to be a ghost
by vividfantasy7
Summary: As if being a senior in high school wasn't enough, the supernatural seemingly had taken an interest in Sam Manson, in the form of the handsome and powerful ghost hero of Amity Park, besides quite a few other specters. The nightmares and the mysterious powers after her didn't make things easier either.
1. Chapter 1

_Hello everyone, vividfantasy7 here._

_As many people asked, I managed a try at a sequel of "What it feels like…" that I hope you'll enjoy, **but** you shall be warned, you've just released a dangerous beast. There'll be slow progress at first, then drama and angst and all that jazz. Bc I dig it. Oh, and fluff. I dog that too._

_I greatly encourage critics, ideas and reviews all together. And a BETA or two, if possible._

_**Disclaimer:**__ Danny Phantom is copyrighted to Butch Hartman and Nickelodeon (and I'm so not writing this down in any other chapters, bear with it)_

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Chapter 1 – Start of a new school year

A shrill ringing crept through the dark room. Something fumbled under the blankets of the queen-sized bed that was placed against the wall of the spacious dark colored room, and finally a hand emerged from under the wool material and battered around until it successfully hit the alarm clock standing on the night stand on the right between the bed and the curtained window. At the stop of the offending sound the hand retreated to the warmth of the blankets in which it was hiding only to be rudely pushed out again a few minutes later when a loud sound disturbed the _lump_ under the blanket _again_. The hand hit the alarm clock repeatedly but noted sadly that the voice did not stop.

After a few more agonizing moments, and DHT's 'Magic Melody', the _lump_ managed to find an exit from the sheets and wobbled toward the origin of the sound. Tired eyes scanned the surrounding objects until they settled on a black cell phone. It got switched off quickly, only a few moments saving it from being crashed to bits by a well aimed throw at the opposing wall.

Switching the light in the bathroom, Samantha Manson looked blearily at herself in the mirror and sighed as she noticed the circles under her eyes. What kind of idiot organized a 'Welcome to the new school year' party for kids before the first day of said school year? No, she didn't meant the parties thrown by students that went on all the previous week, the last one being on Saturday as everyone agreed it would be better to sober up till the first day of the year, but the party thrown, by whatever firm owner or other, for the kids of the important part of social life (though what was so important about the spoiled brats, she'll never knew) with the 'celebration' starting at 9 pm and ending at who-knows-when the next day. She was glad to be able to persuade her parents to leave around midnight, that meant she crawled into her bed at 00:53 approximately and was rudely awakened at 06:00 by her alarm clock and at 06:03 by cell phone later on.

The bell rang loudly signaling the start of the first period. Sam looked out the window as the last remaining students stormed into the classroom and went for the still available seats. She also noted sadly that the seat behind her was taken, as well as the one beside it, if the immediate chatter was any indication. At least they weren't one of the cheerleaders, or girls for that matter, so may be she could avoid the squeals, swoons and what not they usually emitted during each and every of their conversations. She tuned out their conversation in favor for Mr. Lancer, their homeroom teacher, as the class went on, than tuning out said teacher in favor of more entertaining thoughts.

She scribbled absent mindedly into her notebook as she went over the happenings of her summer vacation; the usual trip to Europe with her parents, that for her relief included a trip to one of the small East-European countries' wine festival, named after the small town lying beside the lake that became one of the symbols of that country. Now, not to misunderstand, she did not frequent the festival for the purpose of wine, more like the few people she met there a few years back when god-knows-how, she ended up alone there, (her parents only realizing a good 6 hours later she was _not_ with them).

She met up a few rather spectacular people; Shin, a girl with a slight gothic attitude crying 'I hate life' and 'I want to die' while advertising some sort of postcards with a sickeningly huge grin attached to her face and Anne, an overly bright and painfully optimistic girl, as later turned out, who basically had a laughing fit why trying to help advertising. Least to say, she had an interesting few hours as they swept her into mindless chatting about anything that came to mind at the moment. As Sam was still in her 'gothic' period back than she mostly sported things along Shin's opinion, to what the Anne only smirked and rolled her eyes. As Shin and she later learned the girl they thought the same, or less, their age was actually their seniors with a few years, and at her comment that they will more than likely grow out this 'gothic', as it was mainly part of their teenage rebellion, they only sorted with a "Yeah, whatever".

And right she was; during the first semester of her 10th grade, her rebellion and gothic/dark views faded, not all, but enough that she started to wear more colorful clothes, listened to other music genres beside alternative rock and heavy metal (dance and house winning way into her favor), in movie genres now sci-fi and crime was just as usual as horror, and same went for books. Her black walls turned into violet, albeit still a dark shade, color and her furniture had a more sophisticated touch to it.

The fact that they exchanged mail addresses before her parents dragged Sam away and ever since than they kept in touch, as well as spending a few days every summer together, was more than likely the actual origin of said changes, or even at the least a strong pusher of them.

The sudden ring of the bell pulled Sam back from her reverie. She took a moment to note the things that were scrambled on to the blackboard and another at her notes. She sighed happily seeing that she copied everything while she was in 'another world'.

Lunch time came decidedly quickly. After first period, supposed English class, came another 3; history, two math class and her afternoon only contained one more physics class. _Decidedly a good day so far_ Sam reasoned as she took a seat with her vegetarian sandwich, as not even her Hungarian friends could do against that one though she had to admit that she had gotten to drink milk, at the only free table still available plugged her dark earphones in and set her ipod to random.

_Oh the bliss of tranquility_ the black head sighed contentedly as she bit into her lunch. She was so occupied with her meal and music that the sudden company didn't occur to her until someone tapped gently on her shoulder.

Started by the sudden motion she turned in her seat yanking the plugs from her ears with her left hand, her right still securely around her meal, and faced the person intruding on her lunch. Or people more accurately, as there were two suicide voluntaries standing before her at the moment. She recognized them immediately, Tucker Foley, short black hair under the red cap and dark eyes she noted, a techno geek and often aim of many jokes from the football team. Beside him, with his hand still on her shoulder, Danny Fenton, previous techno geek's best friend and usual victim of practical jokes of the football team as well.

Her eyes wandered from the hand touching her to icy blue eyes, and she felt a shiver as the dark haired boy kept staring back into her violet eyes. She tore her gaze away and moved away from his touch, it made her feel uncomfortable and she most certainly didn't like it. After a moment one of the boys cleared his throat and she was pulled back from her thoughts again.

"Mind if we sit here?" the Fenton boy asked at her raised eyebrow and she took a moment to glance around the room and note that all the tables were occupied, not leaving space for two people two sit. She sighed and motioned for them to take a seat. Tucker quickly sat at the seat diagonal from, leaving Danny to sit either across from or beside her. After a few moments of contemplations he sat across her.

Sam put away her ipod, as much as she would like to go back to listening to music her education about etiquette was firmer and the rule about music and company played a monotonous song in her head at the moment. She looked at her half eaten sandwich and was glad she'd soon finish it. She dared a glance toward her companions and she almost choked.

Basically the idea of other people consuming meat and other foods that before hand breathed, ate and altogether had a pulse was not a nice idea but she could live with it as long as they didn't try to push it down her throat. Danny Fenton's lunch of hamburger and fries fit into that category but that wasn't her problem either. It had more to do with Tucker Foley's… _lunch_. To just think of it as a meal made shivers running marathons up and down her spine and she felt her stomach make an unpleasant turn. She could not describe it, it was just too, too… she couldn't describe it. There were at least three different types of meats put on the boy's plate, seemingly rare or medium rare with sauce and ketchup poured onto it. She shuddered. Visibly, more than likely and with a rather expressive face if the glare Tucker threw at her and Danny's failing attempt at trying to hide his laughing behind a coughing fit, was any indication, that is.

"How can you eat _that_?" the violet eyed girl asked dumbfounded after a few moment of staring contest from the boy. He stabbed his right arm into Danny's ribs unceremoniously all the while not breaking eye contact with her.

"How can _you_ eat that?" he gestured toward her vegetarian sandwich. Her eyes flared at the question and the two started into a verbal debate about the importance of healthy food consumption, or more importantly; whether meat had a role in that. This went on for the next 10 minutes when Danny clapped his hand around Tuckers mouth, after numerous attempts to break up their banter, and informed them there was only three minutes left from lunch break. This gotten Sam and Tucker quiet and eating, but their glaring contest was far from over.

After an agonizingly long and boring physics lesson, they started off where they left. Sam was dead set on introducing the healthy prospects of consuming vegetables to Tucker, while he was near the point where he wanted to pummel down a good portion of meat into the vegetarian girl to show the pros of eating things that have calories. Meanwhile Danny walked beside them with his hand his pockets, with either an amused smirk or a coughing fit.

Sam didn't even realize they were in the bus stop until her bus came and the boys departed with a respective grunt of "narrow-minded vegetarians" and a still laughing "see you tomorrow" thrown in her direction before they were gone. _Today wasn't a bad day _she thought as she sat into an empty seat, ipod already fished out and turned on, she let the music wash her thoughts away as she watched the scenery go by absentmindedly, _not half bad_.

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end of chapter one *_* Review!


	2. Chapter 2

and here comes the next chapter =)

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_Everything was dark and cold. Sam struggled against _something_, an invisible force around her body, moving her like a puppet. Her vision brightened and everything turned green and warm and felt a strange power as it emitted from her body, concentrated in her palms where the feeling got more intensive and warm until it left all together, as if it had been pushed away from her. The quiet that enveloped her till now turned into screams of horror and fear and she felt shivers running up and down her body as the feelings engulfed her until she couldn't take it anymore._

Sam bolted up in her bed with a silent scream. Sweat rolled down her face and body as she shook slightly. Taking huge, calming breaths she left her warm bed and headed for the bathroom, washing her face to abandon all thoughts of sleep for the night. It was already the fourth time since the beginning of school that she woke up from this nightmare, scared and feeling helpless.

She warily glanced at her clock after she wandered back into her room and noted that it was still before half five in the morning. Sam collapsed onto her black sofa and waited for her alarm to go off.

"You alright?"

"Is that anyway to greet someone?"

"Is your one any better?"

Sam glared at the dark haired teen for a few seconds before giving up and collapsing onto her desk, headfirst. She felt a weary sigh leave her lips as she closed her eyes for a few moments before the bell rang signaling the start of first class.

Absentmindedly taking notes she tried to brush of the curious glances her two new found acquaintances kept throwing her way. Well that, or glaring at them and mouthing 'pay attention' until they turned back to class, only to a few minutes later restart their circle.

"So, will you tell us?" this time it was Tucker that brought up the question between bites of his lunch. Sam stared at him as if he had grown a second head. "Tell you what?" she questioned as she looked out through the window.

"Whatever that's bothering you" the black haired girl glanced at Danny before she went back to gaze out at the garden of the school. She shrugged and muttered a "nightmares" as an answer. When Sam felt the table shift she unconsciously pulled her body back from it and started the person across from her. "You slept through a horror movie" Fenton stated nonchalantly and she felt a slight blush run across her cheek.

It wasn't intentional after all. And she didn't want to go with them either. It just so happened to be a day after one of her nightmares and she just happened to hear her mother oozing about a shopping trip with her only daughter (that usually meant trying on pink and fluffy dresses for during the whole afternoon for Sam) that morning, so she chose to accept their invitation. So she went. And she was kinda tired and that movie wasn't that good to be honest.

And that was it, Sam mused, a movie with a few acquaintances. Nothing more. It was not like they were friends, actually. They just had classes and lunch together and that was all to it. There was no reason to tell them anything, at all.

With that thought in mind she left the table as the boys dumbly stared after her. "What the hell…?" Tucker asked while stuffing a hamburger into his mouth. His friend just shrugged and gazed out the window. Suddenly a small mist emitted from his lips and he quickly covered it while glancing around the cafeteria. With a small nod from Foley, he left the room.

The last three classes went on agonizingly slowly in Samantha's opinion and she couldn't contain her small sigh of relief as the last bell went off. She quickly left the school, seeing as it was relatively late to be in the building and headed for the park, choosing to go on foot instead the usual bus ride.

The small breeze lifted her spirit greatly and she felt a small smile stole its way into her face as she walked through the colorful trees of Amity's park. She randomly sat at down at one of the benches surrounding the fountain and fished out her unfinished lunch. It was funny how much calming effect this place had on her. The plants that surrounded her, the animals that lived here in harmony, quiet that was only broken by the chirping of the birds and the sounds of ghost fighting, and… _Wait… ghost what?_ The ebony haired teen quickly came out of her musing as a red beam shot a few meters beside her.

With one move she stuffed her back and was on her feet running away from her previous sanctuary as more and energy orbs hit the surrounding area, thankfully avoiding her. But as luck had it the next ball hit the ground right before her, resulting in her landing face first in the dirt. Sam quickly tried to stand on her feet again but fall back when she put pressure on her left feet. With a muffled cry she fell back onto the ground grasping her offending ankle.

Sam dared herself to look back to the fight, and she sadly noted the on coming energy ball that headed for her. Her eyes shut reflexively as she turned away from the blast. To say she was surprised when nothing happened would be an understatement. Swallowing her fear she looked up again.

The first thing she was saw white. Than black. Her mind took a few second to organize the happenings of the outside world, but when it finally did she had to take a sharp intake of breath.

White hair, a black and white jumpsuit with belts and skirt-like-thing on (her mind could not place this one thing, no matter in what kind of state it was in), his hands glowing the same emerald color as the shield that surrounded and protected them from the oncoming red beams. Her vision blurred slightly and her head spun in circles. She knew he went back to fight, but her mind was too hazy to comprehend the happenings anymore. The last thing she remembered was that the he pulled out some kind of jar and aimed it the ghost, and a moment later it disappeared with the ray of light that came from the jar.

_She was in that place again. It was dark and cold and she felt like a marionette being pulled around, body moving against her will, saying words and sentences that weren't her own. It turned into that warm green again and she felt like running away but couldn't the invisible strings holding her still, the screams filling her ears and mind until that was all she could hear. But they suddenly stopped and for a moment her plant-green world turned emerald and the warm turned deathly cold whispering unheard promises to her hazy mind. And then, it vanished._

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well, liked it?


	3. Chapter 3

The first thing Sam realized after waking up that it smelt like antiseptic. The next was that she most likely wasn't lying in her own bed or in her own room for that matter if the bright lights assaulting her still closed eyes were any indication. She felt sore all over as she grunted and opened her eyes slightly just to shut them again with a silent curse as bright light assaulted her. She tried again, with more success, and slowly opened her amethyst orbs to observe her surroundings.

White walls greeted her as she squinted her eyes to make the blurriness go away. The teen slowly turned her head to incept the room she was in as her sight finally cleared. Apparently she was in a hospital room, if the overuse of the color white and the disgusting smell of disinfectant overflowing her senses for a moment were any clue. Her bed was closest to the window the room sharing another two bed with one occupied with a girl about ten years old, the other holding a six years old sleeping little boy.

Sam slowly processed these things as the little girl with dark scarlet hair and sky blue eyes looked at her curiously, her small mouth forming an 'o' though it soon turned into a light smile that Samantha unconsciously returned. It took her a few moments till it downed on her that she was more than likely placed into the Pediatrics department of Amity Hospital.

The ebony haired teen let her head fall back into the, in her opinion, overly huge pillow as she tried to regain any information in her fuzzy mind as to why she was here. A sudden pain in her left ankle had her eyes open once again in surprise and shock as the events of her afternoon shook through her mind and she sat back up with a frightened glint in her eyes. She remembered being in the park, the realization that she managed to end up in the middle of a ghost fight and _that person_ shielding her from harm before she passed out.

A hand on her shoulder brought Sam back from her frantic reverie and she stiffly turned toward the young nurse's concerned gaze, the memories of her emotions and her dream resurfacing making her pupils widen drastically and alerting the nurse. The Manson girl heard the frantic cry of the young woman and soon felt the presence of another person, looking up she confirmed her suspicions as a doctor, seemingly in his sixties, as he tried to calm her down. She managed to control her breathing and let herself be eased back down into the bed feeling exhaustion take over her body. She groggily looked up at the old doctor as he smiled gently at her.

"Good evening Samantha" his voice was soothing and oddly familiar "you've grown bigger since I've last seen you" his smile grew a little wider with a mischievous glint alighting in his dark brown eyes. The ebony haired girl looked a bit dumbfounded for a few seconds until recognition flashed in her eyes and she felt a smile tug at her lips "Good evening Dr Evans, it's nice to see you too". The old man just smiled at her merrily as he quickly ushered the young nurse out and returned with two obnoxious looking youngsters in her place. Sam looked on curiously as Danny and Tucker fidgeted under the doctor's glinting stare and with a "Please this time around manage to leave the stuff intact" left the ward. She already felt a smirk tugging at her lips as she shot a questioning look toward her classmates. They answered with a few coughs and embarrassed murmurs of "Just drop it".

"Are you alright?" Tucker started, looking at her warily, Sam noticed. She nodded as reply and glanced at Danny, as she felt his eyes on her. She could have sworn his blue orbs burnt with guilt for a brief moment but she quickly dismissed that thought. _Why would, or should for that matter, he feel guilty? _she questioned herself, it wasn't like he had anything to do with the reason she was here. The teen shrugged inwardly deciding that she had better things to do at the moment. _Like defending my dinner from a hunger crazed Tucker _she noted blankly as she effortlessly pulled away Foley from her jelly. It was funny how the ear-pulling technique worked no matter who her opponents were so far.

The sound of stifled laughter saved the boy's ear from further abuse as they all turned toward a laughing little girl, and a drowsily glaring smaller boy: She soon joined, alongside with Danny, while Tucker started to grimace and mutter darkly under his breath.

"Hey what's all that ruckus?" the earlier nurse's head popped in through the door ceasing the noise for moment. That is until Tucker looked up and started to droll, leaving Sam staring blankly, Danny rolling his eyes, the little girl falling of the bed in a laughing fit, the boy grimacing for all he was worth and the brunette nurse trying to detach her hand from the dark skinned teenager's. Without luck. _She looks ready to cut her hand of… or more likely Tucker's_ Sam thought dryly.

"… think about we go and have dinner" Tucker pulled his most charming facial expression "sweetheart?" The young nurse plastered a cherry, and blindingly fake, smile and with the sweetest voice possible gave him the coup de grace "Sure, just let me ask my boyfriend first" her smile widened as she added as an after thought "honey".

Taking advantage of his flabbergasted state she grabbed Foley's ear, thankfully not the one Sam previously abused, "Visiting hours are over guys, you can come back tomorrow".

"Well, then get well and see you tomorrow" Danny turned towards her and she felt a smile stole it's way onto her face "Yeah, sure will. See you"

"I can still remember when you could hardly reach the windowsill" Dr Evans grinned warmly as her reentered the room a good 15 minutes after the boys left. The two children were already fast asleep so he kept his voice low.

"Yeah" Sam smiled lightly then remembering an earlier statement of the doctor let her curiosity get the better of her "what did you mean about 'stuff remaining intact' doctor?"

"Ah, that… when they were around 6-7 years old they were in after falling down from a tree" Sam stifled a snort "while in here they had gotten into an argument that led to a brawl, in a true 6-year-old style, meaning they hit, kicked, pulled and trashed and managed to break quiet a few things in their room. The nurses were rather pissed off at their antics".

"Anyway, I wanted to talk about your injuries. I still don't know exactly what happened, beside the quick 'ghost fight' explanation your friends gave, so I'd like to hear it from you later on if possible" he looked at her seriously and Sam nodded in reply. "You've a concussion and we're having you stay the night here just incase, you also sprained your ankle and you'll need a cast for the next week. Besides that you won't be allowed to take part in P.E. and any sport activities in the next 2-3 weeks" the old doctor sighed as he checked her carton. After a few moments Sam realized he was waiting for her story so he told her what she remembered from her afternoon. Of course she left out her nightmares and her 'acquaintance' with the infamous ghost.

"I see" Dr Evans nodded slightly as he stood from the chair he taken seat in previously "that does explain your injuries. It's lucky the boys were nearby and found you or your injuries could have become more serious" he scratched his neck before saying good bye and leaving the room.

Sam looked up to the ceiling of the dark room, the light snores of the sleeping children calming her mind. She would leave tomorrow, her parents picking her up around 11, and attend school the day after, not attend the dance lessons for a good two weeks and probably cook something sweet for the boys as a token of thanks. She cast away any other thought, like emerald orbs aflame as their owner defended her from harm, and let sleep takeover her tired and sore body.

Thus, she wasn't aware of the person, with said emerald eyes, murmuring apologies to her sleeping form, invisibility hiding him from everyone and everything.

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**Vesta Dragon: I'm glad you like it so far =)**

So, critiques, ideas, anything? Oh, and a beta? I could use one srsly |3


	4. Chapter 4

Well, next chapter =) a bit longer than usual, but bear with it…

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The place was big and dark with a rather eerie touch to it. Numerous strangely shaped mirrors floated midair, their edges gloving and dissolving into the air around it. Most of them were blank reflecting the nothingness around them while a few showed still moments or movie like few-minute-events. A figure floated amidst the scattered screens stopping every once in a while and examining the mirrors reflections, sometimes raising its hand toward it but retracting before touching the surface.

The figure floated towards the center where the largest mirror floated depicting three people, a female with ebony hair and amethyst orbs, a male with jet black hair and blue eyes and another male with dark skin and turquoise gaze, walking down the street. It finally touched the screen and the murmurs muffled by the mask it wore became audible, a dark silky voice, "…_mine_. Your power will be mine"

Sam sighed contently as she watched her class dance around the gym, mainly clumsily if she might add, to a slow song and their teacher nearly pull out all of his hair as the tenth couple toppled over their feet, in the last 20 minutes.

Her cast had been taken off 2 days ago, leaving her with another week of absence from P.E. or to be more precise dance class. For whatever reason their headmaster decided that starting from this year seniors need to learn ballroom dances in the first semester during physical education. Personally Sam couldn't be bothered, she's been dancing since she was six years old, the frequent social gatherings her parents were taking her to requiring such knowledge.

She glanced around the room once again, and smirked when she found her subject. Danny and Tucker danced together to the slow song, waltzing in circle with the other students, utter disgust written on their faces. Normally girls were more in number, but 2 of them were home with the flue, and 4 left (with also a male student) to represent Amity High in the region's competition between schools. With Sam also on the sidelines, left the available dance partners for males minus two and as their teacher couldn't take anyone dancing alone; usually he made the girls dance together and only danced with one of the girls if they were an odd number, this time he paired the two unlucky boys together. Sam hid her snicker as Tucker, once again, stepped on Danny's foot. She wished she had a video camera. Or a simple camera to take shoots with, no necessary need for videos.

She smiled contently as the bell rang signaling the end of class, and the disturbed dance instructor all but threw them out of the gym. Sam patiently waited for the boys as they had the next class together. She sat on a bench near the changing rooms, and let her thoughts drift away a few hours into the past.

She awoke to _that_ nightmare again. The dark haired teen turned toward her nightstand glaring at her alarm clock as it read 2:48 a.m. She threw the covers off of her sweating body opting for a quick shower, knowing all too well she wouldn't be able to go back to sleep anyway.

Stepping out of the steamy bathroom she towel dried her messy bangs and put on some shorts and a long t-shirt and grabbed her laptop. Sam quietly left her room, trying to not wake the house maids and crept into the kitchen. She turned on the lights as well as her computer that she put on the little island in the room and started to search for utensils and needed supplies. She happily noted that her laptop logged in as she turned back toward it and quickly logged into her messaging program. She clicked a few times until a new window plopped up with a smiling brunette waving excitedly at her. Sam wondered if the girl really was 21 or just managed to change her birth certificate one way or another.

"Hi" she weakly waved back "I'll need some help. Got time?" her answer was a sly smirk and a "Depends".

Half an hour later she was covered in a mixture of flour, butter, sugar and egg, plus the additional flavors as she put small balls on the oven pan. "Now take a glass and flatten the thing, make it around 1-2 cm high" merry laughter filled the kitchen as the nice smell of unbaked dough washed over her senses. "What's this noise?" A gray haired old woman stepped through the kitchen door glaring mockingly at the young girl.

"Grandma" Sam shrieked in surprise almost dropping the glass in her hand "what are you doing up this early?" she glared at her screen when her friend snorted lightly and muttered about pots and kettles. Her grandma sniffed into the air and looked at Sam "shouldn't you put them in the oven?" The teen looked at the old lady than at the pan and than back before turning on her heel and putting two batches of cookies into the oven. Setting the timer to 10 minutes she turned back toward her grandmother.

"Why are you up granny?" Sam asked once again "It's half 3 in the morning" she grumbled on as she turned to her laptop, quickly saying good bye to her partner in crime, who was still laughing madly at the turn of events, and shut down the machine.

"You were loud darling" at Sam's look she continued "I woke up when that dream awoke you" violet eyes looked at the teen somberly than quirked a smile "than a little later I smelled cinnamon".

Samantha averted her eyes at the mention of her dreams, it's not like she wanted to keep things from her grandmother, let alone lie especially because her grandmother seemed to be aware of that _dream_, but this was just something she wanted to keep for herself. At least until she could make heads or tails of it.

"It's nothing serious granny" she started to prepare another batch "I can't really remember it anyway". A few seconds later she heard footsteps and turned her head as her grandma sat down in a chair and looked on as she worked. "Well, if you'll remember it and would like to, you can tell me" she offered. Sam was about to answer when the alarm beeped and she quickly took out the pans and put them on the stall to cool then placed the two new ones she made in, setting the alarm once again. She turned back toward the gray haired lady and smiled "It's really alright granny" she offered. Her granny just sighed and nodded eyes so much like her own gazing somberly at her.

"Well," she started as she stood "I think I'm going back to sleep, may be you should try too" and she quickly, way too quickly for someone her age, left the kitchen. With 5 cookies, Sam absently noted as she gazed at the blank spaces on the cooling tray.

Sam opened her eyes and turned when she felt someone sit next to her on the bench, sapphire blue eyes greeting her "Tired much?" the owner asked, his voice laced with humor and the slightest hint of worry. She smiled at him and nodded "A bit" she admitted.

She quirked an eyebrow when she felt him shift the slightest bit closer to her, his hand almost touching hers "You know, if there's anything you want to talk about" Sam felt a bit déjà vu as the mornings events run through her mind once again "you can talk to me" after a few seconds of contemplation he added "and may be Tucker too" he looked into her eyes and she felt tiniest shiver run down her spine at the intensity of it, "after all" for a moment she could have swore that they were green, "we are friends".

She looked on at his warm expression and felt herself mirroring it, a smile blooming on her face. "I've brought cookies" was the first thing she uttered and Tucker's "FREE FOOD!" what finally broke the moment, leaving them laughing on a slowly filling corridor.

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**LindaBabii: I hope I can live up to your expectations later on =) *meheartssmilestoo***

Reviews are love B9


	5. Chapter 5

A late Halloween-special-edition-thingy =) apparently I'm not dead and I'm actually working on this (and other things too) but RL is relatively a pain in the rear that lives no free time whatsoever… (also, this thing is yet to be proofread or betad or anything so sorry for any mistakes be it grammar any other, I'll fix it later…)

So, enjoy x3

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Edward Grieg's Peer Gynt and a pounding headache awakened the sole heiress of the Mansion family on that unreasonably sunny All Saints' Day morning. She hastily felt around for the offending object, her cell phone, as her bleary mind tried to come to terms with sudden change of her alarm tune. After a good minute of being unable to locate the source of her irritation the black haired teen sat up in her dark colored bed and opened her eyes to try and visually locate her phone. Upon not seeing it anywhere she closed her tired eyes again and tried to focus on locating the sound itself. After a few seconds her bare feet contacted the cold floor with a light thump as she headed where her bad appeared to be, and with another few seconds of searching through it she found her multifunctional alarm clock.

Her nimble finger grazed the screen of the phone which in turn lighted up her tired face. Her thumb automatically went for the 'turn off' option when her violet eyes registered the message appearing on the screen, _Hope you enjoyed my trick, Miss Mansion_.

As memories flooded her mind her eyebrows drew together, a frown appeared on her face and her lips turned downward as she felt a slight 'tick' in the muscle under her right eye. _Why that little…_

Sam twirled before the body length mirror as she admired her costume for the night. She originally intended for a simple witch's outfit, a not too skimpy black dress with laces and trims, a cape and the ever present hat and wand, but after a daily few hours of Skype with her European friends on the previous week ended her with a dark brown tank top under a bright orange shirt, a black pumpkin skirt, stripped orange-black leggings and a set of brown belted boots, with a bat looking charm attached to the side on the right one. The crystal beads caught the light of the early setting sun on the witch-hat-shaped charms that hang around her neck and in her ears. An orange watch adored her left arm while black and orange colored slim bracelets the other, her right ring finger housed a beaded spider, it's colors matching the theme so far.

The teen trotted back to her vanity and quickly checked her make up for one last time before grabbing her purse and heading for the door. Usually she despised such gatherings of the elite, as she vocalized it many times before, but at this time of the year she threw all these to the wind and just enjoyed the holiday. After all Halloween was her favorite holiday, the magic and myth basically tangible in the air, not to mention that Amity Park was a supernatural gathering point to begin with.

She liked the holiday ever since she could remember, though it stepped on to whole a new level after she became 14, the first time her parents brought her to a gathering on All Hollow's Eve. Another interesting fact about Halloween was, at least in her hometown, that there were no ghost attacks, only small pranks of sorts as the beings themselves were fond of the holiday.

Upon arriving at the event's place, with her vampire parents in toe, Sam found face to face herself with Danny Phantom. Or more accurately a Danny Phantom look alike as she noted the differences in height, body build and so on, though the costume seemed rather accurate, the black and white jumper with the DP logo on front, the belts and accessories at just the right places, hair bleached almost white and eyes an eerie green thanks to specially colored contact lenses.

Taking advantage of her initial shock the young man sneaked an arm around her waist while his other engulfed her right hand and guided her toward the already heavily filled dance floor. By the time Sam gathered her wits she was already whirled around in a quick waltz by, much to her irritation, Jack Smith. _No wonder the eyes didn't look overly fake_ she thought while contemplating whether it would be too rude, even to her standards, to step on the egocentric male's foot.

"You look bewitching" the man's husky voice whispered into her ear and Sam had to suppress the involuntary shiver the action had resulted in her body. She tried to put some distance between their bodies, as Jack had pulled her rather close to him for his seducing attempt, but to no avail as he had a firm hand on her form. She smiled coyly at him as she bit on her tongue, not wanting to show her irritation so early "You yourself look rather… ghostly" she said bemused as literally danced away from her partner, whose face was contorting in pain. Apparently accidentally stepping on his foot wasn't as much of a lowly act after his repulsiveness so soon in to the night.

She quickly maneuvered her way through the dancing couples, her wanna-be-suitor hot on her tail, than quickly left through one of the corridors. She got as far as two left turns before something latched onto her wrist and she was yanked backwards into the hands of her pursuer.

"I had enough" the violet-eyed girl heard him mutter before he dipped his head swiftly, while pulling her body closer at the same time, one hand already around her waist, once again, the other holding her face making any escape impossible. She instinctively jerked back at the man's actions but after realizing her inability in actually doing so, a worried expression entered her face and almost inaudible "No" left her lips.

To her utter surprise, and bewilderment, it worked. Smith stopped his movement, and within a moment she was free of his vice-like grip and was looking at his retreating back with a baffled expression. _Is it me, or did his eyes really glow for a moment_ her mind whirled with the happenings of the last few minutes before it ended up with a relatively typical conclusion to anyone who had been put out to stress of any kind "I need a drink."

And that was how, after barely ten minutes after arriving, Samantha Mansion had ended up in a corner of the ballroom sporting a lightly alcoholic drink. Not to mention that 4 hours later she was still there, although she did dance with half a dozen monster-costume-clad young man (and a few not so young ones), happily nursing the 11th flute in her hand.

Alas she wasn't really surprised when the earlier depicted ghost took form right beside her, albeit hovering in a rather strange upside-down-sitting position, smiling coyly at her. She muttered a hasty "Good night" before turning on her heel, hat and wand in one hand glass in the other and exited ballroom.

_I should have thought this over_ she contemplated as she gazed into emerald orbs, only a few centimeters ahead of her own violet ones. She took a few unsteady steps backward unconsciously until she met a wall, which cut her escape route spectacularly.

"I believe" the young man started as he silently landed on the marvel floor and his form became tangible "you owe me a thank you". He glided closer to her, one hand reaching and prying the half empty glass from her unsuspecting hand. She watched curiously as he sniffed at the drink before placing it on a nearby table than returned his attention to her.

"For what?" Sam asked as she gazed at the ghost before her. "For saving you from your lecherous boyfriend-candidate, may be" he said with a bright smile but Sam could hear an irritated undertone during his reference to Jack. At first she looked at him dumbfounded before her alcohol fogged mind added two and two together and she whispered in a half awed tone "You possessed him" His smug smile was all the answer she needed to know she assumed correctly and she felt a smile of her own tugging on her lips at the prospect. Jack Smith, cosplaying Danny Phantom, got possessed by the real deal. It was just too nice to be true.

"Thank you" she whispered and felt her smile widen the tiniest bit when his eyes lit up in answer. "You know," she looked up at him as she heard his voice "tonight is rather special to my kind. There is rule that forbids harm to be inflicted on humans, probably thanks to all those jack-o'-lanterns" at that a giggle escaped her "but we are allowed to play tricks of any kind on you people" his smile turned into a smirk as he stepped closer once again reducing the distance between them to a few centimeters.

"So," he started and she almost lost herself in those glowing green eyes "Trick or Treat, Miss Mansion?"

Sam tilted her head slightly as his question roamed through her mind "I don't have any candy on me" she offered innocently, it never occurred to her that she might need some to wary off anyone who'd want to trick her that way, though she should have after all quite a few 'ladies' she wasn't on best terms with appeared here tonight. Or she could have used it against someone that had the same aim as the ghost-hero before her.

"Then I'm afraid I'd have to trick you" he whispered as he dipped down to her eye-level and swiftly pressed his lips to the corner of her own ones, his glowing orbs filled with bemusement and satisfaction, before he disappeared into thin air.

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I love reviews =)


	6. Chapter 6

Okay, so firsrt of all, I feel terribly, terribly sorry for not updating for nearly half a year. And for having an artist block after a third of it was written then the next fifth...

Secondly, i'm incredibly thankful for the people who revived, you make me going on with this.

so, anyway, school year over, I have time to focus on this thing (because I need to reread and reread just to know what the hell I wanted, but now it's mostly all together and i'm on a roll)

so, (yeah, I know I oveuse this word but I _love_ it) onto some actual plot, sweethearts =)

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His mirrors, the only connection to the outside world, glowed in the darkness of his prison. He's been here so long; he lost count of the years and decades. It was several hundred years ago that he had been _sealed_, the beings surrounding him, both humans and ghosts, too afraid to attack directly, to attack him, oppose him at all. They gathered sacred object and magical stones, convinced the mages and wizards that he had to be shut off. "For everyone's sake" they said, as if it could right everything.

The people he trusted and loved betrayed him, too scared of his power, of who he was, of _what_ he was.

At first he couldn't understand it. Weren't they the ones who asked for his help when they were in need? The ones who offered him a place, built him a home to live? Had they not come, year after year so that their fields would grow, their families may be blessed? He couldn't understand. Not even a hundred years later he did understand.

Not until the first mirror appeared. At first he didn't no what it was, and he only got near it with great caution. It was a strange contraption, a glass like object flowing in midair. He raised a hand and touched the surface, his heart beating quickly with surprise and excitement as the mirror came to life. The edge started to glow warm green, and images started to play on the surface. Woods, forests, lakes and mountains whizzed before his eyes and he looked on in wonder as the images filled his mind. Later on more mirrors appeared, the same way than the first, and activated after he touched it.

It wasn't until the 16th one that the glass showed him a village. His heart clenched at the sight of the people running around with their daily lives and he remembered the time before his imprisonment. His mind went back to the questions that plagued his thought for the first few decades and he turned from the glass with a frown on his face.

As time went by many more mirrors appeared showing him many things that happened on Earth. And as he watched the wars, the plagues, the people's way of treating each other, the ones that were _different_, his questions soon became answered and he wished that his prison would have stayed dark and quiet forever.

Sam stared blankly at her watch and noted with agitation that there was still 20 minutes left from her history class. She let a small sigh slip as she tried to focus on whatever Mrs Rocher was saying but she gave up a few minutes later and opted for staring out the window at the snowy yard of Amity High.

It was already March yet the weather seemed to decide it was still too early for spring, it had been snowing for the last week continuously. Sam watched the small snowflakes lazily drift outside the window before she turned back once again attempting to listen to class. That attempt lasted for a whole of 2 minutes and 37 seconds before her mind decided to wander off again.

A small shiver ran up her spine as the freezing air danced against her skin, some idiot thought it was too hot in the class room and actually opened the a window. The dark haired girl closed her eyes for the briefest second to commit it to memory. This was their last year, her last year, as a high school student, as a _child_. In a few month they will have their certificates, they will go to university, to college or find a job. Some of them will leave, some stay. She contemplated this for a moment as Mrs Rocher went on about the last stages of World War II, and decided that it won't affect her that much anyway. She was to attend Amity University's Business department, as per her parents' request (who actually graduated from there) and possibly take over the family business.

_A few years ago, I would have revolved, refused to be used as some kind of pawn for the sake of the family,_ she thought as she scribbled down notes. _Funny how things have changed._ Originally, she wanted to fight, for rights, for changes. Since then she realized, that having and leading a company that has power (maybe not global or nation wide, but certainly to be counted it the state) that can be an example as to how things should be (let it be new ways of environment protection or anything else), was one way to fight. So she accepted her parents' offer and the challenge hidden in it.

The bell pulled her from her thoughts and she hastily packed her things and scrambled out of the room for her next class. Thankfully, the next class was to be with the guys, that usually provided something interesting to happen during classes, if nothing else a few quick snarky remarks and jokes when the teacher wasn't looking.

Well, todays _'interesting to happen'_ proved to be actually rather interesting, being that Mr Thorton, the biology teacher decided to conduct another blood analysing session, although they did one in october. _Fun times _theebony haired girl remembered fondly.

"10 bucks says Paulina and Star will faint before the analysis is over" Tucker chirpped into the conversation Danny and Sam were having. The two teen shared a glance at each other before the Fenton boy winked at Sam "15 says they'll do that before their fingers are pricked".

Sam bit on her lip to keep from smiling "20 that Dash beats them to it". The guys looked at each other for a few long seconds before they turned into coughing fits while trying to squeze an "alright" out in beetween. Less then an hour and 20 dollars later Sam led the boys happily to her favourite cake shop of Amity Park.

"I've never would have taken you for a raspberry cheesecake type of person" Tucker admitted between bites. The Manson girl looked up and observed the boys plate "I'd like to say I'd never would have taken you for a strawberry-shortcake-with-extra-chocolate-sauce-person either, but then I'd be lying" she replied as she consumed another piece of heaven. _I need to take some home for Granny_ she tought absently.

She felt a light touch at her elbow and turned around toward Danny. "Care to share what's on your mind?" he asked easily putting a sporkful of chocolate cake into his mouth. The girl felt a slight shiver ran down on the back of her neck at the motion so she focused back on the dessert that she was eating. Swallowing a piece of raspberry she closed her eyes "Heaven" she muttered in utter delight. She was taking another piece of this for herself too.

"So, do you have a boyfriend?" Tucker asked and it taken all her will power not to choke on thin air. Sam looked at the Foley boy in undisgised bafflement what he returned with a smug smirk.

"Erm... no" she glanced down at her almost gone cake. "So does that mean no first kiss either?" he inquiered nonchalantly, which earned him a swift kick in the shin by Danny, thought it went unnoticed by Sam.

The violet eyed girl could feel her face turn hot as a ready blush crept up her neck steadily to her cheeks. The happenings of last years Halloween party came to her mind and she cursed in her mind even just remembering it. She was furious, to say the least. She wholeheartedly refused the possibility that her first kiss had been stolen, and by _that_ ghost. She took a slip of her soda to give herself a few seconds to calm down before she answered a leveled "No, no one yet".

She heared him mutter a meaningful "Uh-huh" before he'd unceremoniously thrown his dessert fork with a cry of "Goddarnit that's _cold_!" and threw a rather nasty glare at Danny who sent it right back at him. She looked on for a short time in confusion before getting up and ordering take out for her grandma and herself.

That night she had another nightmare. The ony difference was that this time she actually remembered parts of it. It was hardly past 2 am as she sat on a chair on her small balcony, heavilly bundled up in a long winter coat and some boots on, nursing a rapidly cooling cup of herbal tea. She took a sip then heaved a sigh and watched the white icy wisp dissolve into invisible particles.

Sam thanked the heavens it was not snowing at the moment as she glanced down at the notebook and pen lying on the small circural table. She skimmed the words she written but a few minutes previously and let another sigh leave her lips. She looked up and toward the city silent amazement creeping upon her as always when she admired nature. She let a small smile slip onto her face as she looked upon the landscape, though it slipped just as quickly as it came when the air a few feet before her distorted and the infamous hero of Amity Park materialized before her.

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As I said, i'm on roll, if things go as planned, next chap is up in a few days, from then on i'm not promising anything (in frequency, I mean) but reiews keep me motivated, sooo...

oh, and still in serious need of beta, or you'll have to put up with me proofreading =3


	7. Chapter 7

OK, so I think 7-8 days can count as a 'few days', so...

on another hand, I'm leaving for vacation on saturday for an undifined time and will have no internet (except for wifi hotspots or whatevers, like McDonalds and the local library) so unless I manage to finish next chap before then, things not getting up till I'm home (and the con is over) 'cuz mobile ffnet hates me and I can't submit anything through it...

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Fingers rigid around the porcelain mug, Samantha Manson let he smallest of sighs leave her lips as the apparation before her took form. White hair and glowing bright emerald eyes materialized before her eyes and she watched on with a mixture of awe and apprehension as the once called 'Invisio Bill' stepped away from the steal railings of her balcony and seated himself in the chair across her.

She took a moment to comprehend the situation. It wasn't like she hasn't seen the ghost since the Halloween incident. The papers were full of him on a weekly basis, some heralding him hero, some crying him out to be a monster, no different from the ones he was fighting. So she heard abou him a lot. She also couldn't say he hasn't met him, since then. Only a few hours after she found that irritating message on her phone, she was hassled away by her family into the cemetary for somekind of memorial or other that ended up with quite a few ghost appearing and causing mayhem which in turn lead into Danny Phantom showing up to save the day. And save he day he did, at least in Sam's option as one of the ghost had whisked her up and away from her party and the ghost boy had to chase after them to take down the ghost and then her back to her parents. But they had not the time to chat beside a quick spoken "thank you" as he had been busy with chasing after the remaining ghosts.

Next, she saw him a day before Christmas when he was chasing some Ghost Writer that thought using her as a model for whatever story he was writing was a fun idea. New Years went in a similar fashion, albeit with a different ghost, and every since than a few time a month ghost kept appering before her. Truth be told, most of them were actually harmless and just thought that because _the_ Danny Phantom seemed to be her friend they might have a chance of befriending that particular human too.

So, she ended up meeting him a few times a month, but never had time to sit down and have a conversation. At least, till now.

Taking a sip from her already ice cold tea, the blackhead waited for her green eyed companion to break the silence. After all, it was her balcony, and her brooding-time over irritating sleep-time-reducment. She took another sip.

It seemed like forever before he finally spoke up "The ghosts, they seemed rather interested in you". Sam looked at him with an expression that clearly read that's-nice-coming-from-you and then promply downing the remainder of her drink and placing the now empty cup on the table. "You don't say"

"What I am saying is, that is" he stopped for a few seconds searching for the right words "not normal" he finished waiting for her reaction.

"You say that as in, those ghosts generally trying to befriend me, or any other person, is not normal, or does it include your seeming interest on being on the right side of us" Sam questioned with the slightest bit of irritiation creeping into her voice. May be ghosts generally were agents of chaos and mayhem for the people living in her city, but over the last few month she met quite a few ghost that were friendly and truly only wished to spend time with her. Like Wulf, the wolfghost, who she learnt escaped from some prison where he was put unfairly and who turned up to be a rather nice and gentle fellow.

He leveled an icy glare in her direction "I am different" he stated in a low voice. Sam felt a shiver course through her body and refused the idea that it might not have been the cold that caused it.

"Oh, and what makes you so different?" she questioned. He gave her a look, a mixture of repressed fury, misunderstood pain and dejection, that left her regretting her question ."I _am_ different" he said once again, this ime with a said smile. The dark haired girl felt a strange pulling in her chest at his expression. Without her permission a question slipped trough her lightly purple lips "Why?"

He didn't answer. His eyes settled on her still open notebook, skimming the words before his eyebrows knitted together slightly and he snatched it up before she could comprehend what's happened. Samantha looked on as he went through the contents of her newly improvised dream-diary, his expression turning sterner and gravier by the second. It got her mind a minute or two to realize that _he_ was reading_ her_ diary before she finally came out of her sleep deprived observation.

"Hey" she cried trying to snatch back her property. Her hand went right through the previously tangible material.

"You are having nightmares" he stated as he looked up at her, emereald orbs staring into her violet ones.

"Give it back."

"What is it exactly about?"

"Give me back my notebook!"

"Tell me what happens in your dream."

"It has nothing to do with you!" she nearly shouted, her breath coming out in white whispes around her face as she stood from her chair hand held tightlyat her sides. "It might have to do with the ghosts being attracted to you" Sam looked at him, still angry but with a bit of confusion mixing in. "What the hell do you mean by that?" she questioned.

"You don't remember it at all" he said surprise evident in his voice "I was sure you remembered"

"Remember what?"

"That you've been possesed" his answer let her next question die on her tounge as she looked on him. She felt her insides turn into a painful knot and she willed herself to ask the next thing that came to mind "Was it you?"

His face darkened for a second but it seemingly cleared away as he saw her expression. She felt desperate. Desperate for that answer to be yes, because that would mean that even if her freedom was violated on some level, and though she'd be incredibly angry at him, at least it was done by someone that she, on some instinct level, trusted and could trust that it happened because the circumstances left no other choice for him. Even if she possibly haven't known him back then enough to know this.

"No" his answer came like a tonn of bricks falling heavily down on her and Sam fell back ono the chair she was previously sitting in. She felt her hands being taken into larger cold ones, and she looked up at the ghost standing by her side. "You should go inside."

"Why can't I remember?" she asked as he pulled her up and started to lead her into her room. "Actually, people who were possessed don't remember it, more like realize it" he explained as they phased though the balcony door. "Who possessed me?" he stopped before her sofa letting her down gently. "It's... Sam, you weren't just possessed. It used your body to house a large amount of power" he replied as he sat down before her, his hand still holding her trembling ones. Shet ried to stop the shivers that went through her body unbidding to her will. _For goodness sake I'm Sam Manson, I am not get into a panicky-shock-state just because I learn I happened to be possesed and used as a marionett some time in the past_ she shouted in her mind.

She delibaretly pulled her hands away from his grip and fisted them in her lap, her black bangs shadowing and hiding her expression as she uttered a soft "Leave."

When he tried to take her hand again, she pulled away and said firmer this time "_Leave_". He gave her an unreadable expression before dissapearing into thin air. Sam waited for a few minutes before she went back out on to the balcony and brought her notebook and mug back into her room. She sattled the later on her night stand before sitting at her desk and switching on her lamp. She skimmed the letters again and again until she fell asleep on her desk, all the while refusing her tears to slip from her eyes.

_Sam was standing in field of destruction, everything covered in warm green as far as the eye could see. She heard the sound of her King as it spoke of the greatness of his plan and the glorious part she played in it and felt a warmness envelope her as her dear children hummed in happiness and came to her as if to reassure her of their love. She hugged them each and whispered promises of new lands and happiness to come. Her world was filled with a green that fled her system and fueled her power, her _majestic_ power. She could feel it build up more and more, as her King's power grew, as her children grew and seized more and more territory. _

_She walked among the destroyed streets and watched with triumph the servants that had once so readily destroyd those that were now so important to her. She felt her smile widen as she went on, inspecting the workers her King recruited but stopped short when she came accross a pair that were planting trees. Their hair were the color of honey, their skin fair and eyes glowing green like everything else under her King's command. For a moment her heart scruntched in pain and she looked on in confusion as to it's source. Heavily, but she resumed her walk and went back to her rightful place, next to her King. The one that escaped would return soon and she had to be by her ruler's side to assist him in his fight, shall the need arise._

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reviews=love, motivation, etc =)


	8. Chapter 8

So, just wandering, but is there even anyone reading this story? Cause it really has no meaning to spend hours and hours of writing, plotting, spell-checking and rereading (still no beta) if noone cares about it... even if I hate leaving things unfinished... but I have a rather big bunch of other shit to spend the time on...

anyway, about this chapter, I advise you to try imagining Mr Frost as Henry V, as I kinda did the same, it helped me a lot =)

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Sam awoke the next morning to the sound of her alarm. She jerked up from her half-sitting, half-lying position as she wondered toward her cell and turned the music off.

The violet eyed girl went into her batroom and started to ready herself for the day to come. Stepping out of the showel she secured the towel around her body and wiped off the steam from her mirror. And let out an unearthly scream. For a moment she could have sweared that she saw a face in the mirror. Or more like a face cowered in some kind of mask. It was white with a precious stone in-between the eyes and a scar-like cut running through the left side, right over where the eye would be.

But she blinked and the image was gone, and Sam was ready to acknowledge all of this for sleep-deprivement and stress. Inhaling deeply a few times, she assured herself that she was indeed alone in her bathroom before she went on with her day.

_He looked on on the human as it went around and got ready for it's day. It hummed with power, with his power. The power that has been stolen from him upon his imprisonment by all those that feared him. It had been sealed away, into tiny pieces all around the globe in hope that noone and nothing could merge them together. What they haven't counted on was that power repairing itself, as it was never meant to be broken just as nature could never be taken apart into tiny pieces and even if tried, it repaired itself._

Sam took of her jacket and threw it into her locker before gathering her books for her next class. It was the last week before finals started and she was all too happy, albeit with a nice amount of appreciation, apprehension, anxiety and many other feelings, for all this to end.

"So, ready for the last week of school?" Danny asked her as he appeared next to her locker, Tucker a few meters behind trying and failing to flirt up Star. Sam let herself a discrete eyeroll before turning to the Fenton boy. "Hell, yeah" she grinned at him which he replied in kind.

"I'm telling ya" Tucker spit out between bites of the remnant of his breakfast sandwich "she's totally falling for me". He happily swallowed the last bite and opened the next piece of food, heavily stuffed with ham and bacon. Sam resisted the urge to shiver violently at the sight.

"'Course" Danny replied emphatically, earning a wide toothy grin from Foley and a sarcastic smirk from Sam. "After all, she was so on cloud nine she hasn't even realised you walked smack into the wall" the Fenton boy's smile bloomed in to a devious grin as his friend sent deah glares at him in response. "I have you know, she was taken with that poem I wrote up to her!"

"Sure, Shakespeare," the Manson girl muttered and rolled her eyes, then glanced at the boy sitting next to her conspirationaly "maybe there's some kind of hypnotic undertone to it. He wouldn't be able to turn her head any other way."

Danny's grin widened and he winked at her while Tucker multiplied the death glares he was previously sending his best friend's way. The dark skinned teen opened his mouth to retaliate but was interrupted by the openeing of the door of the room, the teacher walking in, silencing the class as he started the lesson.

Sam allowed a last smile at the boys before turning her attention to the lecture, last week of high school and all, only to suppress a light shiver when her eyes met with Mr Frost's bright green orbs. The man was tall with light brown short hair and fair skin. All smiles with strong and scolding looks if necessary, unwarrily charming the female attendees of the school on his first day with friendly gestures and gentlemanly behaviour. The Manson girl hastily looked down at her notes as she tried to slow her suddenly rapidly beating heart. There was somehing abou that man that put her off, leaving her with a strange feeling that she tried to suppress and hide.

She glanced up warily at the blackboard trying to avoid looking at William Frost the temporary History teacher – as Mrs Rocher was on maternity leave for the last 5 weeks – copying down notes on the last phases of the Cold War. She tried to push down that strange urge to get up and leave the room and get possibly as far away from him as possible.

Sam puzzled over this feeling many times in the last two and a half weeks, since the first time it happened. At first it was all normal. The guy's handsome she gave that, but totally not her type. Even so, he was nice, helped her out with a few things she couldn't grasp (like different dates for the same battle in the different courses books), he was nice to the students and the school emplyees like the janitor and the lunch ladies, whom other teachers tended to treat like inferior lifeforms. In during the third week of his stay at Amity High, something changed. It was slight, barely noticeable, but it was there. A second slowness in his answers, his pupils dilated the tiniest bit, his eyes duller a fraction than before, smiles having a strange unnaturalness to it.

The dark haired girl glanced up at her teacher as he scribbled down notes on the board about the fall of the Soviet Union. It wasn't that she noticed those changes because of her own... interests. Do not misunderstand, she was a girl with eyes and for that no one shall blame her, even if he was not her type. But for the last few weeks she had been getting these weird signals when she walked buy him, or if their eyes met. It reminded her of the feeling when a ghost came near her, the slight shiver, the feeling of forbodeing and awareness, the urge to step back and leave still waters as they were.

She even consulted one of the ghosts about it. He reminded her of a yeti in appearance though he was gentle and caring as she learned with time, with the powers of winter. He told her about the symptons of ghosts possesing humans –the only way for them to become able to physically interact with humans, except a very few powerful beings-, an unnatular brightness of the eyes, jerky moves, change of behaviour and sometimes physical and mental attributes, like strength and inteligence. Which led Sam to the conclusion that her teacher was not possessed, more like someone who was hiding some sort of secret.

She continued taking notes while studiously ignoring Tucker and Danny's attempts of trading notes (sometimes she wondered whether they were 8 instead of 18) while Mr Frost was turning his back to the class to jott down names, places and dates of historical importance.

Probably that was the reason she caught glimpse of that yellowish-green glint when the teacher turned around, his hands animetedly moving around as he explained the revolutions in the Eastern-European area. It was a simple ring, probably silver, with a bright green stone embeded in it on his right little finger. She felt the hair on the back of her neck stand as she laid eyes on the precious stone. Something swelled up deep within her, calling out, crying out in desperate need to let go, to be free again and she shuddered violently at the strong emotion that made her sag a deep breath and fight the blackness that was edging into her peripheral vision. She heard people calling her name, some close, some from a distance as she felt the darknes envelope her before she lost consciousness.

_There was a searing pain right behind her eyes and she screamed in terror of all the images running through her mind, though she couldn't see them, more like feel the emotions attached. She felt fear, terror, loneliness, helplessness and basically any and all negative emotions her mind could conjure up, leaving her breathless and fatigued at the experience. She felt her awerness subdue as a strange power broke through her will, felt herself drift away._

_It felt like hours, though might have only been a few seconds or minutes at worst, but the pain stopped, leaving her with a strangely light feeling, as if all her fears and worries had been taken away. She opened her eyes and for a short while it seemed as if the world turned green. And that made her smile, a warmness filling her that wasn't unwelcome._

_Her once violet eyes burned plant green, her heart rate quick and eratic, her blood feeling like ice cold rivers and burning suns at the same time. Her body trembled with shudders and shivers as the delicious power run through her body, filling her, thrilling her. Her now emerald orbs closed in utter bliss as she felt the gartments that previously clothed her burn up with her newly found power and something calm and soft climbing around her now bare body. _Gifts of your children_, a voice wishpered in the back of her mind, and she smiled a gentle smile as leaves wove around her, cladding her in an elegant short dress, her hair falling free and tumbling over her shoulders and bare back. Her bare feet touched the ground and the vines that previously escorted her in the air withdrew to her King "_I am glad, you are finally here, my daughter_"._

Welp, guess you were seeing the urban jungle ep coming (I was kinda trying to be obvious about it, so...)

thus, review=love and next chapter


	9. Chapter 9

Yes, I've updated. I really did, it's not a mirage. Though it's not proofread, so deal with the grammar mistakes for now.

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_The mirrors lit up with a slight glow as he passed them, searching for the one that pulsed violently just a few seconds prior. Upon locating the flowing glass he came to a stop, fingers but an inch away from its surface. He pressed the tips of his fingers against his window to the outside and it came alive with a soft green glow as the fogginess dissolved, showing a white room. He observed the white tiled walls and light beige curtains, the bed occupied by a human, still unconscious from the resonance of the power in the ring._

_He moved his vision and looked on the other human, the half-specter as he sat near the bed on a chair, face buried in his hands, his complexion just as light as the room, only his currently jet black hair contrasting his semblance._

_Not a moment later, the picture in the mirror distorted and it took quite an effort to follow the humans as they were suddenly whisked away. He searched the power; it rivaled his own before his imprisonment, familiar and old, just like time. It took but a moment as he realized the owner of such great strength and a soft whisper of "Oh," left his lips. He really should have realized sooner that the ageless entity would sooner or later intervene. He looked on as the two humans materialized in the realm of the ghost of Time, the human-scepter already changing form and standing defensively before the unconscious one. He saw as realization awakened in the eyes of the boy as he recognized the form-changing ghost._

"Clockwork," the boy shouted, enraged yet still slightly lowering his defenses.

"Danny Phantom," Clockwork acknowledged as he shifted from and old man into a young boy. "I believe I've told you to look after her," the ghost stated as he observed the still sleeping human. In a blink he was standing next to the bed, his now middle-aged form reaching out to the girl.

_The mirror fogged up for a moment than cleared again, showing the human female glowing emerald as the ghost of Time touched her. A smile stretched behind the mask, hard and malicious as the glow turned a leafy green and Clockwork had to retreat his hand._

"It's not good," a baby Clockwork commented as he pulled away. He looked up at the ghost boy and sighed as he turned back to the girl. Placing his hands on the female's form, the light surrounding her turned back to emerald than slowly dissipated into nothingness. "It's awakening, even though it shouldn't. It shouldn't be even possible, unless..." he stopped than disappeared and repapered again with a heavily bound and ancient looking tome in his hands. The half-specter grew closer, his features marred with worry at the expression of the older ghost.

"What is it?"

"Nothing good," was the simple reply.

"What do you mean, nothing good?" voice raised he stepped closer, examining the time-ghost as he browsed through the old book. It went on for a few minutes; seemingly the boy was familiar enough with Clockwork to not take his concentration versus ignoring-the-guy-in-front-of-you-that-got-snatched-here-from-another-world-by-you problem, until he stopped turning the pages, his eyebrows drawing together and lips turning into a frown. "Clockwork?"

"It's him," he said stonily. He looked up at the boy, his gaze hard "I cannot stop him, Danny Phantom". He turned away, the tome vanishing from his hands as he stepped next to the girl.

"Who is?" Danny asked, worry seeping into his voice. Clockwork put his hand on the female's forehead and the mirror flashed and turned blank.

_He seethed. They were not supposed to be aware of his person, of his plan. The mirror shattered into a million pieces as his fist collided with the glowing surface. He watched, mask hiding his emotionless face, as the pieces gathered and the glass was floating as if nothing had happened. The entity turned and floated off._

The first thing Sam felt was the death grip that had encaged her small hand. As her consciousness slowly returned she also became aware that the hand holding hers was slightly shaking. The sudden light hurt her eyes as they opened, and she had to take a deep breath to shake of the rigid feeling she usually only had after a particularly horrid nightmare. Turning her head she observed the unnaturally pale hand, her eyes traveling to a mess of jet black hair. She squeezed the boy's hand lightly, still groggy from her impromptu nap. Azure eyes snapped up to hers at the action, and it took all her will power not to scream like a girl, when she was suddenly pulled into a desperate embrace, two slightly cool but strong arms encircling her torso, one resting on her lower back, the other grabbing at her shoulder, his face burying in her shoulder.

Her first reaction was to push him away, not being a touchy person herself, but after a second she felt the tremors again, and realized he was shaking. She stopped mid-movement bewildered at the thought that Danny Fenton was reacting like that because of her. She felt a blush creep into her cheeks, and coughed, to restrain her reaction and to possibly signal her friend that she wasn't overly fond of the situation. Well, mostly anyway.

Danny pulled away instantly, his own face mirroring her scarlet one as he looked anywhere but at her. For a few seconds this went on, than it seemed the Fenton boy had had enough of it, as he heaved a sigh, and still fighting his scarlet cheeks, looked up into her amethyst orbs. Her breath caught for a moment as she gazed into his ocean blue eyes. For a moment she could have sworn they were green.

"Hey, Sam, are you alri-? Did I interrupt something?" the door banged loudly against the wall as Tucker entered, without knocking might I add, his previous worry turning into a smug expression as he pointedly kept his gaze on the pairs intertwined hands. The teens simultaneously dropped each others hands, turning away while looking at anywhere but the other.

That night Samantha went to sleep with fuzzy feelings mingling in the back of her mind. She still could feel his arms around her as she closed her eyes, his hair brushing against the clothes on her shoulder, his unnaturally cold breath seeping through the material. She felt a shiver run through her body and she tried to banish her thoughts to the back of her mind. It was late; she was tired and tomorrow was to be a long day.

She felt the day take a toll on her as her eyes slowly closed and her mind drifted away.

_She was floating midair, vines encircling her middle as she fought the invader that had attacked her Father's kingdom. Energy orbs, the color of her beloved children, left her hands as she hurled them at the ghost of winter, his ice freezing her precious plants, killing them with its cold. With a sudden roar, roots shot up from the ground imprisoning her enemy in a cage of thorns. For a moment she looked on, victorious and ready to leave and report the joyous news to her King, when the vines and thorns turned into ice, as if touched by liquid nitrogen, and broke to a million small pieces, dispersing in the air. A painful scream bubbled up from her throat, leaving her lips as a desperate cry as she could feel physically the frostbite that had marred her flowers. The vines holding her up fell limp to the floor and she felt gravity work its gruesome magic on her too as she ascended to the ground at neck braking speed. _

_She never reached the ground though. Her enemy, her Father's enemy, had caught her mid fall, gently placing her on the ground and grabbing her shoulder, desperately shaking her._

"_You have to snap out of this! If not, I might no be able-" he was interrupted as an energy orb hit him, sanding the phantom a good ten meters flying before bouncing back and attacking her King with a renewed vigor._

Sam bolted up in her bad, sweat tickling down the sides of her face as she took several long breaths to calm her erratic breathing and heartbeat. _He was there. That frigging ghost was there. That was how he knew I was possessed. He knew all along!_ She seethed internally as she desperately grabbed around for the notebook she used for writing down her dreams.

Opening it, she hastily jotted down word after word, while feeling the memories of her dream slipping away, like cold water between her fingers. She placed the already worn notebook on her bedside table. Her head hit the wall behind her head mutely as she turned her head towards the window with a tired sigh.

He knew. Danny Phantom knew she was possessed. Though this fact wasn't new, after all the ghost himself revealed that fact to her, but he was there, he knew exactly what happened. He probably saved her. Scratch that, he most definitely saved her, along with every freaking person in Amity Park. And no one seemed to remember it.

After she learnt of her possession, Sam tried to look up the incident. She tried the local news, she tried the internet, darn it she even asked Danny's parents (though she had sworn them to secrecy, she didn't want Danny to know) but she came up with nothing, besides the fact that there were a few hours the whole town couldn't count away with. It was as if the whole population of Amity Park had lost its memory of those hours, yet no one seemed to think it strange and life went on without anyone trying to find answers. But that _was_ Amity Park, gathering point of the strange and supernatural.

Sam's thoughts wandered back to the ghost hero. She needed to have a serious conversation with him sooner or later, and she rather had it sooner. Her nightmares were getting more and more out of hand, and way too realistic for her liking. She slumped back down under her covers, trying to whisk herself back to dreamland, hopefully filled with azure eyes and jet black hair.

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Fluff! (or something along those lines) Yes, I totally went there x) hope you had at least a small portion of the prescribed daily dose of happy feelings.

I *heart* revievs


	10. Chapter 10

Aaaaaaaand next chapter =) but a totally awesome idea for a RoTG fanfic came to me and it's distracting!

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Sam hardly slept that night. Her thoughts couldn't calm down, the new revelation filling her anxious mind that was going over every information she had about her dreams. She had been possessed, and by a powerful ghost from what she gathered, though she had yet to see it in her dream. Thus she knew basically nothing about the entity. Its powers were obviously connected to nature, her own power in the dreams indicating so, probably taking on the form of a plant or including them on itself as well.

Her ponderings came to a halt when a light yelp sounded from just outside her window. That was on the second floor. The dark haired girl slowly scooted out of the bed, the sheets slightly sliding off after her, and withdrew the curtain to be greeted by a pair of green puppy eyes. Literally. They were glowing, just like the dog's whole body, and looked right at her. Her own lack of reaction kind of baffled her, by the time the curtains were in her hand, the pup's head was already halfway through the glass, as he yelped again and toppled into her with happy barks.

She encircled the small body as she shushed him, it was better if no one in the house awoke to a ghost dog running around the house, and walked back to her bed. It wasn't like Cujo could get fur all over her sheets, she contemplated as she set the small body down beside her.

"What are you doing here?" the teenager asked as she scratched at the pups ears absentmindedly. He gave a happy little bark and moved his head so she could access the area more easily.

She smiled as she reached for a slip of paper and pen; a hasty _We need to talk_ quickly got scribbled on it, she rolled the note up and attached to the dog's collar. Sam instructed the pup to take it back to Danny Phantom and the fur ball wagged his tail before jumping through the window and disappearing in the night sky.

That happened over 10 days ago. As of today written exams were officially over and she finally could heave a sigh of relief. Final exams and nightmares didn't mix well, but she was quite certain she nailed it. Now that it was over, she had more important matters that needed her attention. Like the unresponsive ghost hero of her city, who seemingly decided to ignore her.

Cujo visited her two days after her revelation, the paper already missing from the collar. She had learned that he was highly intelligent during their third meeting, when he saved her from the Box Ghost by turning into a giant hound (at least 1,5 meters if not taller) scaring of the other ghost. She also learned that he kind of considered Danny Phantom his master.

As many ghost now days, the pup approached her out of nowhere, and like the others kept on visiting her. Thankfully his attention did not involve haunting or taking her hostage to get the attention of the so called Invisio Bill (let's just say there was a certain reason she found the Box Ghost and Lunch Lady especially annoying).

"Earth to Sam," a pale hand waved before the ebony haired teen's face and she unconsciously moved back before looking up. Danny looked at her funnily, while Tucker grinned while he tinkered away with his smart phone. Sam blinked twice before focusing on the boy before her. She took a moment to take in everything about him, pale skin, handsome face, ebony hair and eyes that sometimes seemed to glow. She seemed to find herself lost in his eyes quiet a few times for the last few months, or simply staring at him when he wasn't looking, her insides growing warm and butterflies taking flight in her middle. Oh, she watched enough movies and read enough books to know what was happening. She also realized that currently wasn't the best time to develop a crush on her friend. She somehow ended up meeting Frostbite on the weekend, while she escaped home for the park for some peace and quiet, though armed with textbooks and study guides. She found the winter spirit by chance, who set down to have a chat with her for a few minutes before continuing on his errand in the world of the living. She told about her reoccurring dreams and he warned her with a serious expression that it more than likely was the sign of a haunting, probably the original owner of her powers in the dream. When she inquired about who might be it, Frostbite became silent and distant and excused himself with a polite smile before disappearing into thin air. Samantha hated when ghosts did that, reminded her to much to her first encounter with Danny Phantom. And she wasn't exactly sure where to put him in her mind at the moment.

Nevertheless, a more than possible haunting and a budding crush probably did not go well, and Sam wasn't about to test that theory on her own skin.

"Sam?" A hand settled on her shoulders and the girl started as she was pulled back from her musings, which seemed to happen a lot these days. Probably lack of sleep.

She looked at the young man before her (it was becoming hard to refer to the males in her year simply as boys), his eyes shining with obvious worry and maybe the slightest bit of guilt mixed in those ocean colored orbs. Sam's insides did a few nervous flips, and she fought a lost fight against the redness that was creeping up her face. Budding crush her ass, she had fallen for the guy, hard. This wouldn't be so horrible, even with the haunting, if she had the slightest chance that he might feel the same. But it was an open secret that Danny Fenton was head over heels for Paulina, like half the male student body in their year (and even more in the years under them) was.

"Ah, I'm alright," she stuttered, ready to step back and away from his touch when suddenly she was yanked away forcefully from her friend. She looked back dumbfounded, only to be met with her mother's irritated glare.

"You were due to fitting an hour ago," she stated with slight disdain and, with a last glare at the two males standing a few meters away, dragged her to the waiting car. Sam let herself to be tossed into the car, half baffled by her mother's sudden actions and half wanting to get away from the situation. She wasn't really in the mood to deal with her hormonal reactions.

"You should really stop associating with those boys, especially the Fenton child," her mother hadn't even waited for the car to start before reprimanding her. Sam sighed inwardly, _here we go again_.

"His family is strange," she said looking at her, "after all, they do fancy themselves as _ghost hunters,_" Pamela snorted. "Mom, there are ghosts," the teen argued, though she knew it was a lost battle, "we saw enough of them already". Her mother continued, undeterred. "That maybe, but still, ghost hunting? That's ridiculous. And besides, their family holds no considerable status," _and the cat is out of the bag_, Sam thought cynically. "You should really not waste your attention on _him_," she stated.

Sam looked at her mother startled; she couldn't have been _that_ obvious. Pamela took a side way glance at her daughter before averting her eyes to the scenery outside. "Samantha, I am your mother. Of course I would notice it," she answered her silent question. "That boy is not fit for you," she said sternly "he does not deserve your attention. And I don't wish to hear anything of this for the moment."

The ride home after that was quiet. The fitting less, especially when Sam noticed the pink lace addition to her white dress. Her mother quickly changed subject (though the yet to be seamed laces were taken off) to Jack Smith. The dark haired teen wanted to bang her head against a wall, hard.

"I can't see what your objection against him is, darling. He is handsome, he's from a good family and his future is solid. He has status, he has connections, he has a name to be_ proud of_," Pamela stated as she calmly sipped a cup of herbal tea. "He is a pretentious jerk, who only has his family name and what's standing behind it to show, nothing else" Sam retorted. She was getting tired of these conversations about Jack Smith. Although the man wasn't a womanizer, it was obvious he had many irons in the fire, his interest not lying only in her family, but he seemed to give special attention to her, out of all the daughters of Amity Park's high society's families. She contemplated telling Pamela about the incident during last year's Halloween party, when Jack tried to kiss her. Although the thought was appealing, but she realized later on that he had no recollection of the happenings that night, probably a mix of alcohol and ghostly possession.

The 18-year-old heaved another long suffering sigh as the tailor pressed the last pin in her dress, that was for the ball organized by Amity University every year for the students, accepted or still pending, that wished to attend the institution (a tradition she learned went back decades). Pamela, dragged out the white Victorian styled dress (also a family tradition) that she and Sam's grandmother too wore (and many other females of the family from both sides, as dates were allowed to the ball) about two weeks ago and called for the tailor for the necessary adjustments so it would fit her daughter perfectly.

The amethyst eyed girl had to admit that the dress was beautiful, even if it was white and reminded her of a wedding dress, none that she was overly fond of where she was concerned. It was shoulder-less with silver seams laced in intricate patterns in the bodice, the skirt hunched up giving the illusion of having three layers. It was simple yet elegant and Sam was taken with it. She took a turn before the mirror when her mother and the tailor leaved to discuss further details.

The dress made her skin look lighter than it already was, her hair darker and more pronounced, her violet eyes seemingly glowing. _I wander what he'll think of it_ she found herself thinking and stopped abruptly in mid turn, her face heating up involuntarily. She should really stop doing this to herself, it was unhealthy. Yet she could not stop the warm yet excited smile that lit up her face. The ball was in two days, and though Jack Smith was to be her escort, she could spend the night with Danny and Tucker, as both of them were invited as future students of the University, like herself.

A sudden chill in the air drew her attention and Sam hastily pulled her skirt skywards when she felt something rub against her leg. A relieved chuckle left her lips when Cujo's green body materialized, tail wagging happily, and she scouted down to pet him, only to notice the neatly folded note attached to the dog's collar. Sam hastily took it out and slipped it open. _Meet me at the fountain at 6_ stood in capital letters on the paper and she hardly had time to crumple it in her fist as her mom and the tailor reentered the room.

It wasn't even half an hour later that she left with a loud "I'll be back in a few hours," signaling her exit to her family. She decided against the bus and walked to the park, needing time to sort and organize her thoughts before bombarding the unsuspecting ghost with her questions.

Her phone's watch read 17:46 as she took a seat on the bench facing the fountain. She pulled up her legs, her heels resting against the edge of the bench, hands encircling her knees, her back flat against her seat and head falling backwards so she could stare up at the sky. Being May, the days were long, the sun setting early in the evening, _around 7 o'clock_ she thought absentmindedly, the descending body starting to color the otherwise blue sky different hues of the rainbow. She watched the clouds slip by lazily their shadows turning more colorful each passing minute, as her mind wandered back to the first time Danny Phantom had save her (that she actually remembered), hen to a topic that had been bothering her for sometime now, the ghost boy's ability to change his emotions. It was strange, to be honest. From what she had seen and learned, ghosts were stuck with one set of emotions, sadness, anxiousness, madness, the list goes on, the one they had at the moment of their death. Frostbite's tribe was an exception, but she learned from the gentle giant that he was part of a race that had a long life span, and they deliberately moved to the Ghost Zone thousands of years ago, where the atmosphere changed their genetics, thus the ghostly powers (meaning they were basically yetis with superpowers). And that's why Danny Phantom's wide range of emotions baffled her. From what she knew about the white haired ghost, either from him or other ghosts, he was originally human, meaning that he should be stuck in the state he was in at the time of his death. Yet, he was capable of being happy, sad, angry, mischievous, flirty, and so on. All the emotions a healthy person his (seeming) age should produce.

Deep in her thoughts, she haven't realized that the subject of her thoughts had materialized before her, called her name then took a seat next to her on the bench. She had also missed the warm smile that had crossed the specters handsome features as he gazed at her. He shook his head, the smile turning into a mischievous grin as he lifted his hand that had started to glow a light blue, and touched her arm.

Sam yelped and jumped away from the cold that had swirled on her skin into a delicate flower pattern and glared up at the ghost that was sporting a rather satisfied grin. On impulse she hit his shoulder, or would have anyway, but her hand went right through him, causing the grin to widen. She trough another nasty glare at him, though it did not cease his seeming glee.

"We need to speak," she stated with an irritated sigh. His answering smirk kind of infuriated her. "So it seems."

"You were there," Sam started, but seeing his confused expression she explained, "when I was possessed." His expression turned serious, his eyes guilt filled.

"Yes. Yes, I was there. How much have you remembered?"

"Enough," at his raised eyebrow she huffed and went on while taking her dream book out of her messenger bag. "I still haven't seen the boss, but I know I've been possessed, I shot energy orbs out of my hand, the plants obeyed me, oh and I kinda turned Amity Park's population into my, _its_, zombie slaves. Did I summarize it well?" By the time the last words left her mouth she was out of breath, her hand gripping the bench, her body slightly leaning toward the ghost. He waited for her to calm down. "I don't exactly remember, just write my dreams here," she waved the book in her hand, "and read them. Again and again. But I know you have saved us. You caught me when it was still controlling me, when we were fighting," Sam felt for the first time a sudden guilt creep up on her. She hadn't even thought about it that way before. He was fighting to save her _while_ he had to fight against her. How much easier it could have been for him, just to take care of her quickly and stop the ghost that was endangering everyone, yet he chose to fight for her, to save her.

Another wave of guilt washed over Sam for her earlier thoughts and anger toward the specter. Feeling ashamed she leaned back, trying to put some distance between them and averting her eyes from his relenting gaze.

Probably that was why she was so surprised when a cold hand encircled her own and another grabbed her chin gently but firmly, lifting it up so she would have to stare straight into his eyes. "It wasn't your fault, there was nothing you could have done, and you've done nothing to deserve this, any of this," he hushed as his hand on her chin moved upward to cup her cheek, his forehead touching hers as he pulled her closer. "_It's alright, Sam._"

Samantha took a shuddering breath as her walls crumbled, all the nightmares, her hormonal whirlwind of emotions, basically the pent up stress of a whole year tearing apart all the defenses she had put up, had fallen now, leaving her overwhelmed and tired. A silent tear slid down her face followed by a second, then a third. She felt Danny pull her into a tight embrace and let herself be engulfed in his strong and protective arms. It was funny, his touch was so cool, so cold yet so warm and comforting at the same time. It also felt rather familiar, though Sam couldn't pinpoint why.

"I cannot tell you what happened," he started and the girl stiffened in his arms, "nor can I tell you who is after you." Sam had tried to wriggle out of his grip at his statement, and had managed after a few seconds as he set up slightly, though his hands were still on her arms. "But I can take you to someone who can."

"Who?" Sam questioned. Curiosity won over her, after all that had happened she'd get her answers, no matter what.

"Clockwork," he smiled at her confused look, "your kind likes to refer to him as Father Time."

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It's longer than usual, and I even reached the point I originally wanted to. Well, that is kinda why it's basically twice as long as usually =) Or not. Welp. And now there's romance, and Sam's totally cute being all girly, with her fears and love problems, and all that jazz.

Reviews plz


	11. Chapter 11

Nex chap. For the record I have been rewriting this chapter numerous times. And I still had to struggle a lot with a few parts. Oh, and kinda-existancial crap ahead. Not much bu still. Just so you know =)

Also, I can't believe i've actually gotten to he 11th chapter...

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The feeling of being teleported was less strange than Sam would have thought. Well, if it was teleportation. It could have been a thousand different things for all she knew. Nevertheless, it was strange, one moment being in the park, at the fountain, the next in a strange cave with an even stranger interior design. The dark haired female looked up questioningly at Danny Phantom, the exasperated expression on his face made it obvious it wasn't his doing. The even more exasperated sigh indicated he knew the source of the sudden environment change and probably experienced it many times before too.

Getting out of the ghost's protective hands Samantha stood cautiously and took a careful look around. The cave was dark with a violet shade to it with clock gears of different sizes floating in a seemingly random order in the air. Her body cast long shadows on the walls across her and Sam turned to see the light's source. She was met with several brightly lit screens that had an emerald glow to them, _a ghost thing_, she rationalized, that were attached to a computer platform a few meters ahead. Yet, what caught her attention the most was the person, an old man from what little she saw, tinkering with the machine. He turned with a swift motion, his exterior changing into a young man.

The amethyst eyed girl stood there dumbfounded. "You just grew younger," she stated, than clapped her hands heavily on her mouth, _I didn't just say that aloud! _she screamed internally as she fought the embarrassed blush she just knew was creeping up her face. Thankfully the ghost didn't seem to take offense, as he smirked lightly at the teen.

"Indeed I did," he said and as if for emphasis changed into a small child, smirk still evident on his features. "It is nice to meet you, Samantha Manson." Sam looked on at the strange being before her. "Are you…?" the name Danny had supplied had escaped her mind and she momentarily stood there frozen.

"Clockwork," came the sound of an old man, yet it had an eternal, unchanging quality to it. The dark haired female looked up from her dazed state then blinked as if just realizing the ghost was standing right before her. She shifted uneasily as the memory of his name came back to her mind. Just what was happening?

"Please be at ease," Clockwork stated calmly as he floated closer. "No one knows my real name unless _I_ introduce myself to them. Probably that's why your people took to calling me Father Time," he turned back to the screens, waved his staff so they came alive.

"Do you know what happened to me?" Sam asked, her voice coming out more steadily than she felt. "Can you tell me, what had happened to me?" with all honesty she felt like screaming her head off, _I have every right to know just what the hell happened!_ But for some reason she just couldn't be disrespectful towards this endless being. He gave off the feeling she got when she was speaking with the elderly, people who had so much more life experience, who were so much wiser than her that it commanded an unconscious respect toward them. So she waited for his answer as he watched the screens. After a few moments her gaze wandered toward them too.

Sam watched as various stages of her life were played down the projectors, and her voice came back "What?!" his swift turn and serious expression made her silent

"Calm down. I am currently searching threw for the day you wish to remember. But until all the necessary information is collected, please tell me what it is that you already remember." With the wave of his hand a sofa and a set of chairs appeared together with a coffee table and two mugs of steaming beverages. Danny's "Why I've never got this?" comment was ignored as Clockwork ushered Sam to sit down. She did and felt the warm cup put into her hands warming her up. She took an experimental sip and found it tasted like her favorite green tea. She took another sip before telling her companions all about her dreams and everything that has happened since.

Roughly two hours later, as Clockwork, as well as Danny, was prone to cut in with a question of his own to clarify things she finished her tale and the ghost of Time hovered back to his machine. It buzzed with a satisfied humm. "Am I going to watch my memories?" Sam ventured as she stood, followed by Danny Phantom, and walked closer to Clockwork. "No. You are going to remember," he turned back toward the teens, "but before that I'm going to tell you about the original holder of the power that had possessed you. I think it would be better if you sat back down, it will take a while."

"The ghost that had possessed you is called Undergrowth. Though to be precise it wasn't a ghost in the strictest sense but he was a being that had been exposed to ghostly powers for a long duration of time," Sam's mind's eye immediately supplied a furred gentle giant at the description. "Only, it was in touch with one certain power or more specifically power stones that had been draining and containing that power. Over the last few hundred years he absorbed the stones and as its powers grew, he started to look up more stones and seals that were containing the same kind of power. Till the day it finally emerged and seized your town." Here he extended his hand toward Sam. Upon opening his fist a ring with a clock gear-medal in silvery color was revealed. "Put it on when you go to sleep. It will bring your memories back in the form of a dream. It won't have an effect on your physical state, if anything you will finally have a good night of sleep, but you will remember everything in the morning." Sam took the ring and put it away carefully. "So then this Undergrowth is the one that is haunting me now?" she asked.

"No," he stated simply, then as if she didn't ask anything, Clockwork had carried on with his explanation. "From that," he indicated the ring in her bag" you will know of the happenings of he lost time of your town. But Undergrowth isn't really the problem at the moment. As I told you, he stole the powers of stones and seals, ones that were created to seal away a powerful being," Sam had a foreboding feeling and felt her stomach knot in nervousness. This was turning out bad. Really bad.

"He is a powerful being, or had been powerful, nearly rivaling my own power. He had been immature, too careless as to the responsibility his powers held. We had to close him away from the world, so we could protect it." Sam felt anger stir inside her. They sealed someone just because his powers were too great and none cared to give guidance to him? Clockwork took one look at her frown and heaved a sigh. "Please do not try to apply your human logic to our kind. Eternal beings don't change. We are unable to change. If darkness taints us, that is a 'change', for a lack of better word, that is irreversible. It had happened before, and that is why we had to seal him. An eternal being is defined by their responsibility and the power given so they could fulfill it. But when a dark power comes in touch with us we can be corrupted, we can choose to accept it and turn against our original purpose. But only once, because if that happens we cannot go back as it becomes our new existence and purpose, unlike you people who are capable of change on such infinite levels," the ghost of Time stopped for a moment as if lost in thought. Sam took this time to settle her thoughts too. Coming from a Jewish family, though only her grandmother taken religion seriously and not just as tradition, and having a skype partner who recited theological disputes at least thirty percent during the time of their chats, she was familiar with enough theories that Clockwork's explanation didn't blew her mind to a thousand pieces. On the other hand, she couldn't really contemplate eternity and the relating things the ghost just explained, after all she was only human, and thus her perception had limited her apprehension of the world around her compared to the ghost.

Clockwork stood from his chair and started to float to the screens then back to the chair, multiple times, reminding Sam of people pacing around nervously. She guessed they weren't so different in that aspect. He finally stopped and sat back. "His existence was not meant to be, but like you, our mistakes have its consequences too and we have to deal with it. He was born and raised like his kind before. But he had been touched by evil and he was ready to accept it before we realized it. He was still young; his days barely coming around a century in human years, when he was approached by Nocturn, the previous guardian of sleep and dream. He too is someone that had abandoned his original purpose for the search for power, and used his abilities for his own gain."

"By then _he_ was living in the human world and became the guardian of a smaller town. His powers were still weak, but he eagerly helped the townspeople with rain and good environmental attributes for harvest. As the years went by, the town grew as the people from around had converged to live there. They had built a temple for him and started to show small sacrifices for their thanks. It wasn't uncommon that this had happened to an eternal being, whether they resigned in the human world or another plane. But not once, the sacrifices became more and more drastic, especially when people started to sacrifice their own to appease us. The problem was that unlike it should have it did not repel him; it wasn't even that he didn't care for it, which had been better than his composition. By then he had been touched by darkness, he relished in the sacrifices and the growing fear towards him in the people. The people's respect in him turned into horrid dread as he began to reveal himself to them and started to demand more. And overtime he revealed to his priests that he wanted to overtake all the powers of nature. We had to intervene before he succeeded and his change became irreversible. With a few chosen powerful and wise human we had created seals and power stones and closed him away from the world," his voice turned mournful as he went on his story. "His own power was the one that had imprisoned him, as his change had yet to take place and we designed the seal so it would purify him thus he could gain his freedom." He let out a soft chuckle, "I guess you could say we went soft on him," he smiled.

"Why?" Sam questioned. From what she could understand, the _change_ as Clockwork referred to it was a fully free choice of his kind. "Why did you try to save him from changing?" Clockwork's smile turned bittersweet as he looked up at them. "Because he was a miracle, even to our kind and we, all of us, grew too close to him, loved him too much. He was an anomaly that had deviated from a given path, even if the source wasn't a good one. He was still _created_, had been allowed to live and had the same values and rules given to him as us. He also had the same freedom. We were warned that we had no more right to interfere than with anyone else. But then we learned that he had been touched by darkness and we wanted to stop him, disregarding his own choice. Actually, things probably would have turned out better if we used a different approach like you people most of the times do, but we never had tried anything like that before. The freedom of choice of a being was too respected for that. It probably also was our punishment for trying to force our will on someone, whether we were right or not, and not make him see reason without disrespecting that freedom."

All became silent for a few heavy minutes. Clockwork became closed off and distant. Sam, who after finishing her cup of tea, had her hands in her lap as she took in all the information. Now with the awkward silence she had started wringing them, a nervous habit, folding and unfolding, then putting it on the sofa on her sides, then back to her lap, the cycle repeating. After the fifth time a gentle yet firm hand took hold of her own and she looked up at Danny. "Calm down," his deep voice resonated in her mind as his cool hands had taken her other hand too, squeezing it reassuringly. Sam felt the coldness of his touch travel up her hands, her arms and through her body calming down her nerves and she released a long breath she wasn't aware she was holding.

"He's going to be like that for a time," the young ghost stated as he indicated toward the distracted time ghost. Sam nodded absent-mindedly and felt Danny move his hand away from hers. She was secretly happy his other remained, the coldness shooting her nerves and frenzied thoughts.

"I'm sorry," Sam turned towards him her amethyst orbs finding his own emerald ones, determined to properly convey her feelings. "For screaming at you at the park. And for getting my anger out on you. And-" suddenly a cold gloved finger pressed against her lips and the teen froze in mid sentence. Danny Phantom was smiling, his eyes emanating warmness that was greatly clashing with his natural body temperature. Sam felt a shiver run down her spine as she gazed into his eyes. This ghost reminded her so much of her best friend it was freaky. And not just his appearance, after all, change the color of the eyes and hair and you get Danny Fenton in a frigging body suit (she refused to even contemplate that they also seemed to extract similar reactions from her). And he was smiling and looking at her like _that_.

"It's alright," he simply stated as he brought his fingers away. "May be I should have told you what I've known, but to be honest it wasn't much. If anything it'd probably irked you more." She looked at him with a questioning glare and an elegantly raised eyebrow. Well, excuse her for getting a tiny bit aggravated for not knowing she was possessed by a plant. That could talk and basically brainwash people to do its bidding. He must have seen her thought play out on her face as he back pedaled hastily, "I mean, I wasn't really there, besides the fighting. And that part hasn't lasted that long, luckily," the white haired ghost turned with an awkward smile and a dying chuckle as Sam kept leveling the same don't-shit-with-me glare at him. God, even his reactions were similar to her ebony haired best friend's, she mused silently.

She felt her frown turn into a small amused smile as he seemed to try to mentally ward of her blatant stare, though he was still looking away _and_ holding her hand, while seemingly having an inner battle with him. She felt a slight chuckle leave her lips as she observed the prompt changes in his expression as he heavily contemplated God-knows-what, another aspect that reminded her of Danny so much that her previous serious and sour mood turned light and easy, even a bit happy. That watery smile he leveled her as he turned and saw her expression did not help her situation. How come she didn't notice these similarities before? She silently questioned herself as her heart did a few quick flips at his heart warming smile.

"Thank you," Sam whispered, her smile widening and a slight blush hinting at her now rosy cheeks, "for saving me, for saving everyone back then," her eyes narrowed in amusement as he blushed himself, his almost white skin making the change utterly obvious, so she added with a grin "and every other time we discredited you." She squeezed his hand for emphasis and his expression warmed instantly, the following chuckle turned hearty laugh leaving her breathless. _I should really stop reacting like that towards dead people_, she thought with an inward sigh though that thought, and all others for that matter, went out the window when she was pulled into a deathly cold yet strangely warm, and all together not unwelcome hug.

Now, there were hug-happy people, she could name a dozen if not more in her little circle of friends and well-tolerated-acquaintances, Danny Phantom seemingly included in that group. On the other hand Sam Manson didn't belong to that clique (her previous emotional breakdown not withstanding, thank you very much, that few seconds had been justified), and that pretty much explained why she suddenly froze, eyes wide and uncomprehending and a screaming _what the hell is he doing?!_ on continued repetition in her mind. It was one thing that she let Danny _Fenton_ a hug every once and then, even Tucker, after all they were her kind-of-best-friends. But this was going overboard. Quite a bit, if you ask her. With her heart beating nervously in her chest, the female cleared her throat to catch the ghost's attention. She felt him stiffen in answer and pull back a second later. Avoiding her amethyst orbs he muttered under his voice.

"We don't exactly get to touch people that much," he excused himself awkwardly after he managed to look her in the eyes. She leveled him with an I-am-not-amused glare, before extracting herself fully from his grasp. He opened his mouth to say something when Clockwork materialized in the couch before them, still deeply in thought, then looked up studying the two youngsters before him, who looked on with a flabbergasted expression. _I really should've gotten used to this by now,_ Sam thought wearily.

After a few moments of contemplation and seemingly reaching a conclusion in his mind, the ghost of time's gaze seemed to focus on the present again, and without further ado he restarted his previous explanation.

"I believe you have heard of Mother Nature, guardian of nature and all life on earth. Your people mostly like to refer to her as a figure of speech, but that is wrong. She is an eternal being like me, given the task to tend and control the elements," he looked up at them before he went on. "Our powers also show up in our powers and looks, as well as in different aspects of our being. As time changes, so does my appearance that's why once I'm old the other time young then an infant and then old again. In Mother Nature's case it's an entirely different matter."

"She is renewing and rebirthing, forever changing yet always staying the same like nature and its forces. But unlike me, the change is more drastic. Every few thousand years, she would give birth to a child, a daughter, who would inherit all the powers, knowledge and memories of the ascendant at the time of her 'death'. This cycle had been going on since long ago, and it had never deviated from its path."

"But during the 'pregnancy' of the previous Lady Nature had been touched by darkness. It was someone who addressed himself as the King of Nightmares and Fear, his whole being black and shrouded in darkness. He had come to tempt her with his darkness that she refused but before she could entirely guard herself, he stabbed her that had injured her," Clockwork's gaze seemed to get unfocused for a moment before he continued. "But not just her. She was still at the beginning of her pregnancy and the attack effected the embryo. The effect of that and her attempts at saving her child had caused the embryo's separation into two different entities." The Ghost of Time looked at them expectantly as he paused.

"Basically," Sam started as she tried to organize the information in her mind, "she had twins." A regal nod in affirmative was her answer and she absent-mindedly leaned forward and rested her elbows on her kneecaps. She pondered the for a few minutes, only once stealing a glance at the Danny Phantom who was seemingly trying to place the new information as well. She took a breath before she looked up again at Clockwork and asked with calm seriousness.

"So he is the current Mother Nature's-" her sentence was cut in half as someone interrupted her. The room suddenly felt warm and light, unseen winds carrying the smell of forest and creeks, her skin feeling as if it was caressed by the gentle light of the sun. the being's voice was velvety and calm like a spring day and she felt herself relax unconsciously.

"Brother. He is my brother."

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Uh. 4,5 page just so you know. Never again… anyway, I updated, hope you didn't die waiting ;p

Also, I'd really, really, like thank all those who reviewed, faved, followed and so on. Awesome people, that you are!

_**Sara lovelymusic**_**:** who knows~ x)


	12. Chapter 12

Oh, she lives!

Also, because I'd rather avoided using OCs for the necessary upcoming characters, I'm borrowing from another fandom (not personalities though) =) but! _this_ is not a crossover!

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It wasn't simply the _sound_ of wind and ocean that spoke of the unquestionable identity of the being before Sam but the utter _feeling_ of being surrounded by nature even before the being uttered a sound.

She –because there was no question it was a _she_- was of average height, a lovely face surrounded by a tumultuous amount of flowing ebony hair, that reminded the Manson girl of gentle creeks. A long forest green dress adorned her frame starting from her neck and flowing about her feet gracefully. The female spirit took a step forward, the gentle sound of a beach afar and summer wind accompanying her as she glided closer where Clockwork, Danny and Samantha stood. Mother Nature took a cursory glance at them, then stood before Sam and gently took her face into her hand.

"I can feel his power in you," she whispered gently, her voice accompanied by the gentlest of winds blowing through a clearing of the forest. The teenager gazed at the ghost before her in a daze before she realized what she was doing and tried to collect herself all the while gently prying Nature's hand off of her face.

"Mother Nature," she started but got interrupted when the eternal's finger pressed into her lips silencing her and with a warm smile she introduced herself, "Call me Seraphina."

Sam nodded slowly and offered a quick "Sam," then realized it was probably unnecessary as the dark-haired ghost probably knew her name. The answering smile told her though that it was appreciated.

It was after an awkward minute or two that included Seraphina staring at Sam then turning contemplatively to Danny then back and repeating the cycle that Clockwork seemingly had enough and cleared his throat to get the female spirit's attention. "I believe you came to clear things up," he intoned before gesturing to the furniture they abandoned previously in favor to greet Mother Nature.

"He is my brother, the spirit who's power delve in you," Seraphina started as they took a seat, "he… he had been sealed away from the world" she explained. She waved her hands and a mirror formed before them, its edges glowing a warm green and Sam felt a slight shiver run through her that did not escape the female eternal.

"My mother, the previous Mother Nature or my previous _form_, whichever you prefer, gave birth to twins. The power transfer takes time so that we could experience both being and raising a child though our knowledge comes with our birth. My brother had been sealed away before it had completed thus our powers do not rival. I am stronger, but he is bitter and full of hatred and that alone makes him utterly dangerous." She sighed as a deep sorrow shone through her eyes as she looked at Sam. "We share the same power thus I cannot fight him. Though to be honest I do not wish to either. He is my brother, he is family and the feelings I have for him is something I simply can't go against. And you," the spirit reaches for the young humans hand and squeezes it light and keeping it in her own, "you are now one of them." She smiles with a sadness that tightens Sam's chest with sorrow –though somewhere in her mind the last part of the sentence does register- and she unconsciously searches for the Phantom's hand with her free one and intervenes their fingers.

"The power that is still in you and the way it used you, it has marked you. Be at ease, you will stay human. It's more like a sign for those who see the significance of the power you once held and commanded. His power. My power. Nature's power. And because of the way you've _felt_ why using that it has branded you as its own."

Sam tried to take in what she was told but her confusion must have been quiet clearly written on her face because Seraphina continued with an understanding smile. "You've loved them. The flowers that were at your mercy with the power you wielded, you loved them and treated them as equals, as family, as my kind should and because it was my power coursing through you it has found you _worthy_." At the bewildered expression of both the girl and the half-specter a warm chuckle escaped her lips as she explained to her audience, "Unlike other eternal's power mine can be shared and it does not differentiate between species. It is the actions or in your case the feelings and emotions that determine someone's worth for the power and your species has a surprising knack for being a chosen host to it and you were no exception though definitely one of a kind even in that group," she explained with a smile that was just a touch proud.

"Even while possessed and controlled you've tried to do something for those who came under Undergrowth power. You might not remember this yet, but originally Undergrowth had no plans for keeping alive the denizens of your town." The room became deadly silent after this and Sam became aware of the pressure on her hand, also realizing it was Danny Phantom having her fingers in a death lock, his visage even paler if it was possible. She also realized that she was reproducing the same symptoms as she gazed into Seraphina's dark orbs.

Sam released a shaky breath she wasn't aware of holding. "Will he come after me?" she questioned, her own unnerved voice surprising her. The female spirit looked at her solemnly as she simply nodded in answer and Sam felt another shiver run through her. Things were not looking good. "And will any of you be there to help?" at her question the two eternal exchanged a glance in silent conversation before turning back to her. It was Clockwork that answered her query.

"I'm afraid we cannot," he stated simply, "our powers are part of the ones' sealing him and if we go, there is a great chance that he will simply draw from them, especially hers," here he inclined his head towards Nature, "and that is something that cannot happen. That must not happen," He concluded as he stood and they followed as he floated to his screens.

Clockwork turned to them after a moment of gazing at the glowing accessories, first at Seraphina who nodded at the silent question between them, then to Sam and Danny.

"I will send you back now to where you previously were in your world," he hesitated before taking another glance at the other eternal than continuing on, "but first, there is something that must be known," ad he waved his hand ignoring the surprised and shocked gasp escaping the youngsters before they were wisped back onto the bench before the fountain.

_He looked on as the ghost of time transferred the human female and the half-specter to his den and had them sit. The eternal told them of _his_ tale, of _his _origin. Of _his_ life. And he felt anger and hatred course through him at the sight and at what he heard and that as much as he tried he couldn't reach the human with his power, to show that irritating old spirit that he heard every single word, every lie that left his lips. That the female was _his_ and there was nothing they could do to stop him from getting his powers back from it._

_And if it wasn't enough, _its_ feelings of pity and rage for his treatment washed over him and he felt disgusted by it. How dare such and inferior being even _try_ to understand what happened to him. He was an eternal, the son of Mother Nature, he was above _it_. His anger rose as he listened on and turned to rage when his sister decided to sashay into the time-ghost's delving place. He physically had to restrain himself from smashing his looking glass into a thousand pieces as Seraphina took the human's face into her hands and gazed into its eyes. And he knew without question that she knew that he was watching and his feelings suddenly poured into the vessel of his powers leaving it dizzy for a moment, channeling his feelings to the female eternal._

_And from then, things spiraled downwards. She told them everything they needed to know, even more; referring to the human healers and priests of the old times that had been chosen by Nature's power. Though the fact that neither eternal would be there when he finally managed to break loose to take back his powers was good news, the fact that the power choose from among humans to wield it and that she hinted that it might be controlled by the young human if she wished so did put a dumper on his plans. Not a serious one though and it was also obvious that message did not sink in._

_On the other hand, Clockwork's parting presented a serious problem that he had been counting on using on the half-specter and against the human when the time came to get his hands on the female and consequently his power more easily; as the ghost of Time flicked his hand in a highly exaggerated manner –in his opinion anyway- and the young ghost turned into his human counterpart before disappearing from his sight in the mirror._

_The mirror shattered soundlessly to a million pieces as his mask fell away, revealing a face that seemed unfamiliar in the newly appearing glass. He ghosted his fingers over the scar running through her left eye. The seals' power was breaking, and soon he would be free. A mirthless laughter filled the room and he closed his eyes as a grin, all teeth, split his face in two and he willed his power to connect to the human, feeling all the emotions transferring to him._

_His voice cracked from lack of use but it did not stop the feeling of satisfaction as he let the words spill through his lips, "Oh, you will be mine soon, _darling_."_

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I can't believe I've actually finished a chapter. There's been simply too much going on…

On the other hand, I've been under the influence of way too much Sherlock and Once Upon A Time lately and I _adore_ Captain Hook's abuse of British endearments (or maybe it's just in the fics, I'm not sure anymore) so our villain might just borrow a bit of it. No innuendoes though, his not the type, sorry B)


	13. Chapter 13

_oh god, angst _

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A shaky breath. Then two. Then three. Shaking fingers, a hitch in her breath, then another. A step back. Then one more and another till the back of her knees hit the bench. Another shaky breath as she tried to contain everything,_everything_, in.

She should have known better, because she always knew better since she was eight and her supposedly best friend told everyone that she only befriended Sam because her parents told her so, but now that their wealth well surpassed the Manson's, and they were emigrating into higher circles, she was not required to 'play pretend' with the black haired little girl anymore. When Samantha confronted the eleven year old she admitted it to her face, "What, you thought I'd really be your friend, anyways?"

That night she cried herself to sleep. Because she didn't just loose her best friend, she lost the sister she never had but always imagined her to be. And she told that many a time before, that she thought of her as family, that she would be always her friend, that "I love you, you know?" as little kids are wont to do and feel and she shared the same sentiment, the same words and it was a _lie_. It was all a lie and eight-year-old little girls were not supposed to face that side of the world, not just yet.

So she cried herself to sleep for the next week, and hardly spoke to anyone for the next month. She stopped trusting her other friends and people that tried to befriend her, a subconscious move really, slowly separating herself from the world. Her parents were devastated sending her to doctors and psychiatrists, because "It's not normal, she shouldn't have done that but you shouldn't take it to heart so much, darling" and "She was just a friend, it sometimes happens, sweetheart", didn't help against best intentions. So she attended their family doctor once a week and learned to pretend to be okay, to say the right words, to maintain shallow friendships, learned how her parents' world worked and fit into it enough to be not bothered by it anymore by other people.

Then her parents lost her in a small country by a lake and she befriended two girls that lived on the other side of the world. Still a swallow friendship yet more honest then the ones she was ought to maintain at home, so she spread her play pretend to these people and it stopped being pretend for a small part and it was nice to tell someone some of the secrets you harbor, no matter how mundane they were. But they _lived_ on the other side of the globe and thus they presented no real 'risk', so to say, to her secrets, to her. Thus it was just another game of friendship that was closer to her heart but still too far away to cause any hurt shall they turn on her, against her.

Another shaky breath as she absentmindedly circled around the bench, trying to put a physical barrier between them as she felt rage babble up within her.

It's been almost 9 months ago that she attended that party where she met the infamous Danny Phantom and a day later Danny Fenton. It was ridiculous really, how easily they _both_ slipped through her walls she built up so carefully, so no one could come so close that she had to live through that loss and betrayal again.

She set her jaw and tightened the grip on the bench - and since when was she holding onto it? - making her body go rigid because she will not let him see her fall apart, she won't let him know just how much he hurt her, how she trusted him and how he broke her heart - _both of them_ really. Because she trusted them, one with her secrets and fears and the other with her heart, no matter how unconscious it was on her part, how much it was circumstance and not willingness that let them both in her heart. _Him_, she reminded her treacherous heart and mind, _just him_. _No plural_, because Daniel Fenton and Danny Phantom were _the same fucking person_.

She wanted to scream, to rage, to hit him with all her force but she refused to let him see what he did to her. That's why, with a force of will she was unaware she possessed she took one step backwards, then another and another, turned on her hill and headed home.

She could hear him call out a desperate "Sam!" and the sound of his footsteps against the cement as he ran after her so she picked up her pace, winding into the woods that littered the park trying to lose him. It seemed he at least wouldn't be trying to cover up his identity before her anymore as she promptly ran into his black and white clad ghostly from not five seconds later.

"Sam, I can explain-" he started, reaching for her arm but she stepped back and out of his reach. She felt her resolve to not just have it out with him dissolve into thin air when he blocked her escape and dared to try and make her the unreasonable one.

"Explain?" Sam questioned, her voice barely above a whisper. "And what, dare I ask?" she grit her teeth for a moment trying to keep in the overwhelming anger that was starting to fill up her heart. "That the reason you -_in either form-_ even came near me, that you even spoke to me was because I had once been brainwashed to be a minion of some psychopathic ghost plant? Or maybe because Clockwork ordered you?" She was trembling at the way his gaze flickered away in guilt for a a second before refocusing on hers again. He tried to take a step closer but she evaded his advance, increasing the distance between them. Her voice was hoarse and she felt the angry tears that were beginning to gather at the corners of her eyes.

"Is that why you talked to me on the balcony or the next day at school? Is that why you befriended me? Was I such a risk that you have to get close enough so I wouldn't defect to the dark side in a moment of insanity? Because it'd been easier to be close enough to deal with me before it got to messy for you?" Her voice rose with every word and she was nearly shouting the last sentence, arms circling her middle in defense. Her breath came in shaky gasps, fingers trembling and her body shivering as she tried to suppress all the emotions that were trying to surface.

"Sam-" he started again, voice desperate, but she interrupted almost unconsciously, her voice small and broken "I've trusted you." The moment the words left her lips she cursed inwardly. He had no right, not anymore, not ever, to know that. That he was the second person she loved that betrayed her. The dark haired female closed her eyes, and gathered all her will to force her legs to move and him to stay still and just let her go.

She passed by him, only opening her eyes when she was sure he can't see her, heart breaking inside her when this time he didn't follow, didn't try to stop her. _Guess it's not worth it anymore_, her thoughts whispering freely in her mind, her heart clenching painfully.

She never looked back to see him in his human form, an eerie green glow surrounding him and rendering him unable to move.

* * *

so, how much do you hate me now? B)

on another note, half of next chap is done, dream sequence next (yes, we're finally getting there) so I'll have to rewatch _Urban Jungle_ (is it up on youtube or something?), and I still don't have a name for my villain (just that nature related, either from scandinavian mythology or from my country's). Thus name ideas are greatly encouraged.

I'll also probably be posting the draft on my tumblr, so if you want a sneak-peek or just bug me to finish it, you are greatly visit/leave messages. (And as I'm dying with my final papers and internship, you might really wanna do that if you want that chap before chritmas...)


	14. Chapter 14

music: let it out

also, I should be giving actual chapter names tbh and as usual not betad ,bc no beta to beta it =I

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Curtains drawn, lights off, the room was absent of all light except her alarm clock that blinked lazily on her nightstand, a steady 1:26 showing on the surface. Sam watched her clock dazedly a ragged sigh - or maybe it was a gentle sob - escaping her lips as she closed her eyes, desperately wishing for sleep. After a few minutes she opened her eyes again this time deciding to glare at the ring next to her alarm still untouched after she carelessly tossed it there upon entering her room.

She felt tears gathering at the corners of her eyes and let them fall in the privacy of her room. The sooner she was through this, the sooner all these feelings and_ hurt _was out of her system the better. Or so she tried to convince herself. She unconsciously patted around until she found a small black pillow and pulled it to her chest in place of the plush animals she used to have as a child.

That she was furious was an understatement. When she arrived home a little after 7 p.m. she headed for her room, at first wishing to scream into her pillows all the bitterness that was coursing through her but when she entered, all of that left and she suddenly felt really, really angry. So she changed into a pair of sweets and sport bra and went down to the small room in the basement they used as a makeshift gym and attacked the poor boxing bag that had been hanging from the ceiling. When she first started to take self defense classes she never thought she'd be able to use it so well for stress release too. She fell into a familiar and comforting rhythm of hits and kicks, her anger leaving her as she attacked her target with practiced movements

Her punches slowed after half an hour, her kicks losing momentum, her breathing hard and ragged as she collapsed against the bag, hands holding on and still refusing to collapse entirely, both literally and emotionally, but letting the first tear drops slide down her face. A strangled sob broke free and she was entirely grateful that her family was out for the night for one reason or other.

The hot shower felt scorching against her skin but she welcomed the distraction from her aching heart as she let the water mingle with her tears making her forget for a short moment all her misery.

She put on her pajamas and climbed into her bed not even sparing a glance to the ring sitting on her night stand. She should put it on, she should learned what happened, but to be honest she had enough to think about, no need for I've-turned-zombie-and-aided-an-evil-psycho-plant thoughts at the moment.

That'd been over five hours ago, and she turned on her side facing away from the ring, her mind revisiting the happenings at the park. Her heart gave an aching clench and she took a deep breath to steady herself.

She should have known better. On both fronts really. A ghost_ flirting_ with her - and that should have rang her alarming bells way more than it did, really - and the next day there were people approaching her in school when everyone stayed clear of her since 10th grade -she was surprised it took them a whole year to understand a simple "Leave me alone," that she might as well have tattooed on her forehead - and actually socialized with her and stuck around her and they became her friends. And for that she was just as angry with them - because she had a nagging feeling Tucker was exactly aware of the shit that went down - for letting them in, for trusting them. Because she really should have known better, that people simply didn't try to get on her good side for herself but for some underhanded reason or the other. It just wasn't her family this time. But a fucking ghost. That brainwashed her. And consequently made her into a walking power package for an even bigger jackass - and yeah her vocabulary got colorful when she was angry.

Thus, she was now angry at herself, at Danny Phantom and Danny Fenton, who were actually the same person and oh god she really hoped she hadn't let slip anything the Phantom, or any other ghost really, of her crush on Fenton, because lately she's been more attentive towards the punch that were served the social gatherings her parents dragged her to and somehow ghosts found it fun to harass her when she was already down a few cups and more chatty than she would've liked. And if Danny, no matter which one because they were _the same_, learned about it, well, she couldn't take that. It was hard enough that he was aware that she considered him a friend - their relationship never been specified as such but back then she felt it fitting - that he could hurt her this much... _no he must not learn the true depth of my feelings, _she concluded as she turned back once again toward her night stand amethyst orbs landing on Clockworks' ring.

With a despaired sigh and a whispered "Oh, screw it!" she yanked the ring onto her left middle finger and fall back onto her mattress. Well, she was procrastinating because of Danny, and will be about exams in the morning, might as well add 'Memories of my zombie days' to the list. _Maybe, they'd make a circle of distraction from each other,_ she fingered the ring idly as she closed her eyes and the darkness dragged her under into a ride of memories.

_Sunny sky and warm weather, light clothes in mid May. A blur of her morning routines except the walk to her greenhouse and a quick pick of her favourite fruit and vegetables, she was feeling green today. A walk through the under construction main street, grumbling about the mayor trying to score points for reelection by murdering nature. Then it happened._

_The earth trembled, the ground cracking up under her shoes and plants shooting up, quickly growing, spreading. A bunch of them grouped together around a dark colored rose bud that revealed a brain inside its petals, and Sam took an involuntary step back. As a resident of Amity Park, she had her fair number of survived ghost-attack experiences, but never this close, this personal._

_The creature took form and started screaming about it's fallen comrades and vengeance upon humankind for it, mid speech turning and addressing her (well, apparently everyone else had been smart enough to bolt when shit hit the fan - expect her of course) and accusing her of the misdeeds too. Righteous indignation swelled up in her, she was actively participating in all forms of protest against the demolition of nature, so she gave him a piece of her mind about petitions and some less violent form of protest, "Cause really? Not cool!" Okay so, it might have been fear getting the best out of her - she kinda rebuked with sass and/or sarcasm when she got scared, she'd always been a show-no-fear kinda person, ghost included too, seemingly._

_So, she got sassy, the ghost got angry and quite ready to turn her into a pancake when something zoomed past her and the ghost had been blasted back with several green energy orbs. It took her a few moments to asses that it was indeed the famous Danny Phantom that came to her rescue, but by that time he was plastered against the side of a building, vines pinning him against the cement. The dark haired female turned on her heel as she spied on the younger ghost, he seemingly gave a furious shudder before the vines solidified and he pushed against them to break their hold. They shattered with an audible crack and the white haired spectre used the side of the building to give him momentum as he hurdled back at the plant, maneuvering through the dozens of whines and blooms that came out of nowhere to halt him._

_Samantha shook herself out of her mesmerized state - she never drolled after boys, and really, best not start now. The teen started to run as energy orbs went above her head. She could see from her peripherals that though the green ectoplasm did hit its intended target it did little damage, the plant ghost simply regrew or mended its injured part like it was nothing._

_She got a full 3 meters behind her when vines shot out of the earth capturing first her ankle than her upper body as she fell lifting her from the ground towards the creature controlling it. She felt more than heard the desperate cry that emerged from her lungs as the vines steadily wrapped around her head, successfully muffling her voice, grip firm and unyielding against her attempts of escape._

_She was losing consciousness, and fast, resolve living her limbs as her mind started to shut down when the plants' hold loosened and her newest problem became death by plummeting into the hard ground of Main Street. And while on one hand the day was sucking royally, she really shouldn't have been surprised when out of nowhere strong hands wrapped around her halting her fall and keeping her safe. Or that it was Danny Phantom saving her ass from some creepy plant too - anyone seeing the irony? This day was just weird like that._

_The white haired ghost lowered her to the ground gently, staying a second more to make sure she was alright before hurdling back towards the other spectre. And did that thing just call itself Undergrowth? Creative._

_Sam took a shuddering breath trying to calm her heart and trembling limbs all the while keeping her mind from freaking shutting down,_ Because really? Not the time.

_Another shaky breath and she was standing again, a wary glance toward the battleground her hometown had became before running to some form of shelter. She didn't get too far away this time either, as a bunch of the newly animated wildlife shot after her trapping her legs and arms and wrenching her back toward the center of destruction. With a stubbornness that no doubt came from her grandmother, the amethyst eyed female thrashed about as the vines' hold tightened enough to leave nasty bruises._

_The fact that Danny Phantom, seemingly unconscious, just got thrown to the other side of Amity Park didn't exactly do wonders to her state of mind as the creature finally diverted its attention on her. It lifted a hand calmly yet firmly and the vines got replaced with its fingers, still holding her up like a marionette. The plant spectre studied her for a silent minute before a creepy smirk split it's features and an unholy shrieking shook the ground. It was with a quickly downing fear that Sam realised it was laughing._

"_You," it bellowed and brought her closer for inspection, the grin splitting its face giving it an incredibly insane light. _Though, I guess that's a given with or without the grin_, she mused as she still thrashed about._

"_You are different," it stated, grip tightening on her, "be honoured flesh walker, no one shall have the privilege you are about to." Sam felt a tick start just under her right eye, as the creature before her smirked satisfied with an altogether crazy glint in its eyes._

"_The hell do you mean?!" the teen shrieked as she once again tried to shake herself free from the vines to no avail. The ghost only shook with a slight laugh as it answered with a "You shall see," as the world suddenly went black._

_There was pain. An incredible amount of pain and it seared just beneath her skin then got deeper and deeper till it wrenched right through her bones. A silent scream echoed through her, breaking her mind and will, leaving her vulnerable and helpless. Another soundless sound wrecked through her and she felt her control starting to break over her every sense, her limbs, her mind, her _very soul_. And she felt it, the exact moment she lost it._

_In retrospect, it was like her soul had been wrenched out of her body then squished into the seat of a theatre where she was nothing but a spectator with no contribution to the happenings, _then_ pulled back into her body again. Only difference, that everything was clear._

_Samantha took a calming breath as it all seeped through her mind. Undergrowth. Her King. Her Father. All the plants, all the blooms, all vegetation in this town, her children and she, their keeper, their _mother_. A grin split her face, liberating, _maddening_, everything falling into place in her mind._

_Another breath and the petals keeping her hidden pelted away as she rose, vines holding her gently but firmly, to her Father. He was speaking to someone, but it did not register with her, only the chatter of her children as they've purred happily of her welcome. She could feel the leaves that clad her bare form making an intricate dress, her hair down, falling over her shoulders and caressing her bare back. She opened her eyes, gaze clear and tinged with a warm green at the edges._

_The dark haired female turned her attention to her Father as he gesticulated ardently at his captive and she swirled lazily in the air to face the foolish creature that went against her King. It was a mix, half way spectre like her King and the other a flesh walker, those that destroyed her children and ignited such righteous fury in her Father. White hair and orbs that were the color of the leaves and vines of this Garden, yet colder. The clothes that wore the colors of the day and the night clad his form and a curious frown marred his face as he cried at her King while trying, futilely, to get free from the grip of the wines constricting his movement._

"_What have you done to her?" the spectre shouted and her Father laughed merrily as he brought Sam closer so the ghost boy could inspect her, "Nothing, my boy. I've simply cleared her mind and gave her a purpose. She has a love of vegetation that makes her a wonderful keeper of my garden."_

_Sam smiled gleefully as she flew closer to the hybrid and did a mock curtsy in mid air. His frown deepened in reply, a strange glint entering his eyes. If she hadn't known better she would have pegged it as worry or concern, but he had no reason to fear_ for_ her. _Of her, on the other hand,_ she thought with a smirk replacing her easy smile as she flew closer to him, lightly caressing his face. "You speak as if I have been wronged, flesh walker," she stated with a light tone. She drew back, a shocked expression following in her wake, as her Father laid out his coming plans to the captured ghost. He spoke of the destruction of this city so they could raise the plants in place of it, that he would use the flesh walkers that had destroyed so many of his kind to plant and care for them, that he would not stop till not only this town but the whole world came to that exact fate. She smiled at the prospect, warmth filling her, yet a small hidden part of her cringed in dred. She quickly cast away those niggling thoughts to the deepest part of her brain, never to be seen again._

_The captured ghost also seemed to cast away his holders in that exact same moment, with the same amount of fierceness too, Sam noted as the vines turned to solid ice where they touched his form and a moment later broke to a million pieces leaving their captive to escape. Which he did, but not before throwing her an apologetic glance, that had her confused. They were foes, why did he make her into some kind of victim. That thought had her frowning and chasing after him - her King did order the imprisonment of that foolish spectre. _

_She caught up easily enough but he just phased through her wall of defense and headed toward whatever destination he had in mind. Which infuriated Samantha greatly as he had no qualms shooting ectoplasm against her Father and, well, fighting anything and everything but her._

"_How dare he," she muttered as she took after him once again, cornering the half spectre in the sewers. He chattered audibly, hands clutching at his arms, his already pale face sporting a rapidly darkening blue hue, eyes dilating uncontrollably in the darkness. It was like he was suffering from a fever, only that he was getting colder than warmer. She flew closer, the plants creating an offensive wall behind her thickening and he took a step back as shivers shook his form._

"_Join us, Phantom," her voice was calm and determined with just the right amount of seduction as her glowing olive orbs found his own that were changing from emerald to glacier and back in every few seconds. She found it fascinating, leaning closer, studying him._

_Well, it was all give and take, allures and interest really, her King needed him out of the way and he was too good at dodging their attempts at recapture so she simply had to use a different manner of approach. He could be tempted into joining and helping them - then they could just turn him into one of their workers-, or she could just distract him enough to give that last strike that would end him. She really could care less until her King's wishes came true._

_He seemed to reach the same conclusion as he swatted her attempts at physical contact away and slipped through the plants that stood in his way. The dark haired female turned furiously at that and tracked after him under the ground and over the surface till she reached a strange looking house, that had several signs blinking ominously at her. She took a second to absorb the scene -why they needed the word Fenton displayed so much was beyond her- before she ducked into the house, down the stairs and into the basement._

_The place was cold, mainly covered in metal, with heavy tools of mass destruction - the amount of cannons and hand weapons _were_ disturbing - lining the walls, one corner seemingly dedicated to a laboratory of sorts and in the middle of the southern wall an open gate glowed invitingly._

"_The Ghost Zone," Sam whispered as she cautiously flew closer to the opening of the transdimensional tear that decorated the Fentons' basement. A quiet voice whispered in her mind, "Stay away," in a repeated mantra that had her take an unconscious step back, "You are not to go there, child," her Father's voice rang in her ears and she spun around as another presence made into the room. He looked even paler and bluer than before, teeth chattering, lips trembling, body shivering and eyes now permanently a glacier shade. She kept her distance while her plants took hold of the room, vines growing and flowers blooming, shredding the place in a green glow and giving her a boost of confidence._

_She took one cautious step closer, palms up and facing him in a placating way. "Danny," she started tentatively and he seemed to tense up at her tone, "join us. Father would gladly have you on our side. You could rule together, with us." She took another step closer but stopped when he leveled her with an unreadable gaze._

"_I promise you," he stated simply, voice calm yet cold as ice, "that I'm going to save you, and every person in Amity," he stated more firmly. A furious shiver ran through him eyes clenching shut, making him pause for a second before he looked up at her once again, "You don't know me, and you don't really have any reason to believe me or in the current state take this as anything but a threat, but I'm going to come back and stop Undergrowths. I'm going to save you, Sam" With that he leapt through the air and through her plants, yet careful not to touch her with his cold form, and dove right through the portal to the world of the ghosts._

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Actually I wanted to do the whole dream in one shot but things kinda escalated…

And i'm totally rewriting a general amount of that episode (that I love a lot tbh) bc, dif pov and my story and all that jazz. Also, you missed a generally enormous plot twist that I had in mind for the last few days, be grateful (hint: Fringe)

Reviews?


	15. Chapter 15

thank you for all those who review, fav, follow and still read this, you are all awesome =)

music: Just be friends, Ho Hey, Carol of the Bells

still no titles LOL and bc the show must go on, I'm continuing the dream. if you are lucky i'll finish it in this chapter and won't butcher it into more pieces…

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_Her Father was decidedly calm when Sam revealed the escape of the half spectre to him. He told her to not mind it. "If he ever makes it back to this realm, he will stand no chance against us, my daughter," her King reassured her as he inspected the ongoing work of the Garden._

_The green clad female turned her attention to the ground below her, her Father was obviously finished with their conversation, and took note of the ongoing happenings. The flesh walkers of the town scurried along the streets, some destroying the remains of the buildings that once lined the streets; others plant seeds of her new children. She flew to the earth, her bare feet touching dirt as she chose to walk among the workers, the vines suspending her following closely. She roamed the streets inspecting the ongoing work when she came across a small specimen. It was small, a rose colored cloth wrapped it's body, a mane of sunshine messily atop it's head and it's eyes the warm green of all the workers controlled by her Father. It was hurt, a thick trail of blood drying on the side of its face._

_Something twisted in Sam - was it her heart? - and she took an unconscious step closer then another till she was standing before the small flesh walker - "A _child_," her mind screamed - soothing the bruise, her hand glowing, erasing the scar and the blood as if it never was. "It is alright now," she whispered with a gentle smile that was only met with a blank stare. She felt the tiniest stab of pain when it just went on to work but shook it off quickly. The workers were not able to communicate normally, not anymore, and she should not had made a deal of a worker getting injured, they were replaceable and one of them down would make no difference. Or so she told her blooms as they followed her dutifully around town. But her heart gave a painful tug at the thought of one of them dying unnecessarily._

_She continued her rounds for the next hours before she headed back to the heart of the Garden. Days went by as her Father's flowers grew, though Samantha knew that was not true for the world outside the barrier her King raised to stop time by bringing the Ghost Zone's pace - thus the world next to them basically came to a standstill as time was eternal in the world of the ghosts - and hurry the growth of his army. She came across many flesh walkers, many workers, whose presence left a curious emptiness in her heart. There was a pair, a male and a female that worked religiously, always together and never separated that had left her heart in a painful clench. They were planting seeds when she passed them and the dark haired teen had to stop so the pain suddenly filling her would not take her off her feet. Literally._

_The male had sunshine hair, the female' reminded her of tulip petals, a mix between red and orange, their clothes in tethers, eyes glowing green. She forcefully turned around so that she would not bother the workers, and headed back to her Father the blooms, her faithful companions, right on her heels as she rose from the ground, all the while her mind kept whispering, quietly, achingly, "_Mom. Dad_."_

_It was countless hours and days later when her children reported an anomaly in one of the previous delving places of the current workers. Tracing back the mental link the Keeper of the Garden found herself in quite a bit of hurry to join her Father as the location of the disturbance was the portal to the Ghost Zone._

"_Worry not, my child," he admonished her gently as he started for the Fenton residency, "I, Undergrowth, shall take care of that vermin." The young female smiled at the antics of her King, so overprotective, but for what reason. If it was the hybrid that had come back to honor his promise they had nothing to fear, her King's power, as well as hers, grew significantly during the time the ghost was away. _He would stand no chance against us,_ Sam thought merrily as she left for her customary rounds over the Garden._

_Hardly half an hour found her at the southern wall, when something pulled on her link with her King. Samantha collapsed to the ground with a blood curling scream while she clutched desperately at her middle. It felt as if someone just ripped right through her stomach and then turned her innards to icicles. She gasped for air as her plants wretched around her, half of them leaving to help her King, the other trying to help and soothe her pain but to no avail, so she forced herself to stand then took off in the direction her Father was._

_It took her but a few minutes to cover the distance to the northern region of the Garden where the battle was ongoing, and she had to find a solid surface to hold onto as she looked upon the _carnage_ that stood before her. The ground was covered with the body of countless lifeless plants, vines, flowers, buds and trees, all cut down, showered with water and mud, sometimes singed and at others slight frozen at the edges. She held onto the bark of the tree that's branch she descended upon as she took in the whole scene before her. Her Father was fighting vigorously against that menace, the half ghost, that had wrecked such devastation to her home, and it didn't look like he could have the upper hand or even a fighting chance for long, against Danny Phantom, who was alternating between ectoplasm and his new found ice power as a weapon of choice._

_She felt like something had been ripped out of her body, her mind, as she lowered herself to the ground trying desperately to reconnect the link between herself and her fallen children, but to no avail. With a heartbreaking cry she rose to her feet and launched herself at the ghost just as he blasted her Father away. He hardly had a chance to retract his hand from his previous attack when she appeared right before him and with a vicious kick to his chest knocked the breath out of him and sent him flying. She commanded her vines and they spread forth from the ground engulfing the ghost as she flew after them. Her clothes changed without her conscious will, the previous green leaf dress dissolving into thin air. Hard and resilient petals and leaves encased her body, in the form of the pieces she saw mostly on male flesh walkers during her rounds, vines braiding them into her hair and giving her eyes better clearance, as her previously bare legs got engulfed to her mid-thigh in dark leaves, the ends at her feet razor sharp. Thorns grew around her hand and fingers, their pointy ends sharp, hard and lethal with poison._

_With a somersault in midair Sam ended foot first on Danny Phantom's chest, a satisfied smirk etching at her mouth at his pain filled face. _Serves you right for hurting my Garden_, she thought disdainfully. But it melted right off her face as he looked up at her with eyes the color of icy water and uttered a broken "I'm sorry," before the vines capturing him froze and he broke free. She managed to jump away just in time to not be propelled along with his momentum, vulnerable to his attack. She hardly took a moment to asses her current surrounding - they were at the pine trees - before she launched at him again her sharp thorns, grazing his right cheek, and he visibly shuddered when the poison entered the wound, but sadly enough managed to stop it by freezing both the wound and her poison in it before it could cause harm. She frowned at his luck but wasted no time before attacking him again in a series of hits and kicks that had forced him back several paces to avoid the toxic substance dripping from her fingertips She managed a kick that actually connected with his torso, once again he had this neglectful attitude of simply defending and not attacking her that was truthfully quite hurtful to her pride._

"_Fight, you damned ghost," she shrieked as he avoided another of her punches, "what keeps you back? What scares you so that you would not attack? Or do you just look down on me, _flesh walker_?" she spat as he continued to avoid her then disappeared into thin air. She stopped abruptly, stilling completely as she waited for the white haired ghost to reappear. She didn't have to wait long before she felt a presence behind her back._

_The vines holding her up went rigid as Sam reeled her left elbow back connecting with an ice cold body then turned midair and, using her same elbow, bashed his cheek, right where the wound was frozen, and using his moment of dizziness grabbed at his head and brought it down till it connected with her upraised knee cap. It was with a ridiculously satisfied grin that she watched the so called _hero_ plummet to the hard ground beneath them. Though it disappeared as soon as she noticed the dead plants surrounding him and with new found vigor she charged at him again. _

_He was wiser this time and went tangible before her sharp boots could connect with his white and black clad body and Sam cursed under her breath as she rose back into the air twirling around to find his presence._

_She rose higher in the air as she spun around trying to locate the ghost but came up with nothing. She cast her glance anxiously toward her King as she tried to find him in her mind. The dark haired teenager released a sigh as she was reassured of her King's well-being, the Phantom's attack caused mostly superficial wounds and even the ones that were deep enough to incapacitate her Father was already mending, the ghost would have no chance come his next confrontation against her King. _Or me_, Sam thought bitterly as her glowing eyes swept the terrain once again looking for the intruder._

_This time she had no time to react though. It started with a pitch less scream in the back of her mind that rose steadily to the forefront, her children crying in pain. By the time she could make sense of what was happening the vines that kept her airborne were frozen, their heavy weight plummeting them - and her - to the ground. She ended with a rather graceful tumble on the hard ground, considering she fell from a rather nice height, the dead plants littering the terrain in heaps weakening her impact. When she managed to claw herself out of her makeshift cushions Danny Phantom was already gone, the sounds of a vicious battle penetrating the sky and she forced herself onto her feet while summoning her children from all around the Garden to come to her aide. Not a second later vines ripped forth from the earth, encasing and lifting her, than taking flight to her King._

_But she was already too late. Samantha watched as one moment the hybrid rained down a shower of ectoplasm that had penetrated through her King like needles, as well as the plants around him, before that emerald green glow changed into a glacier blue and he started to shoot at the vines on the ground. He suddenly turned tangible and dove into the ground and Sam could feel as the roots - the heart of her children, of her Father - became cold as if they had turned to ice themselves. She wasn't sure if it was her own voice that echoed through the Garden or her Father's or her children - or if the sound was only in he - in their - mind as she once again plummeted to the littered ground cradling her head._

_The next time the scream surely was hears but she could hardly pay attention. Her head was about to blow up, her ears ringing, her heart aching. Suddenly all she could see was that warm green hue that had been permanently in her peripherals since her King had chosen her as the Keeper of the Garden but it slowly melted away into darkness and she once again felt like she was shoved out of her mind then sucked right back in._

_Her senses regained, her control once again hers she fought against the darkness that had tried to consume her. Sam heard someone calling her name and she tried to open her eyes to tell them to shut up, she was freaking tired and the yelping was not helping. Her sight was blurry but she could take out a green pair of eyes that were glowing with concern and guilt. She felt a frown tugging between her brows as she tried to ask what his problem was, why wake her up if he was feeling bad about it anyway._

_But instead the question she wished to sound it was the painful cry that left her lips and Sam clutched at her head helplessly as it tried to tear itself into a thousand pieces. She felt icy hands take hold of her temples calming her neurotic mind with their cold waves calming her. This time she welcomed the darkness that engulfed her with open arms and let it consume her pain, awareness and that crispy voice whispering from the most hidden part of her mind._

"_Power."_

"_Mine."_

"Your power is mine."

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and the dream saga is finished! yay =)

for the record it's a head canon of mine that Sam did take (or still does) self-defense classes in canon and I just happily conducted this into this little story B)


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